All the More Reason to Care

When summer grew hot
a creek named Turtle on the maps
was familiarly called Sulfur Creek
by the denizens of Trafford,
the small factory town it meandered through,
It was a combination of effluents.
The color came from the upstream clay deposits
mined to make the brick walls of the factory
and most of the town's old dwellings,
built to house the families of the workers
at the factory and supporting railroads.
The smell of damnation came
From the foul reek of the chemicals
dumped into the flowing waters
by the men who were thankful for the jobs
they found making circuit breakers
and laminates meant to imitate quartz.
The waters run clearer now, the factory shut.
Republican may argue with Democrat
about the reasons why any business fails,
but both agree there was nothing to celebrate
when the town's children would come home
from playing in the noisome waters,
having snuck off to play in the creek,
their clothing stained and reeking
from the poisons everyone knew were lurking
in the creek that began as clear spring waters
in the hills off Route 66 near Dunningtown.
All the more reason to care
for all flowing waters eventually seek larger water,
somewhere, be it the shores of South Carolina
or the windswept Oregon coast,
and the ocean is the foundation
of all life on this fragile planet.

Another Jigsaw effort. Words from an old High School friend Larraine Kozlowski (nee Bugiski): summer, Sulfur Creek, Trafford, old, thankful, Democrat, celebrate, ocean, South Carolina, Oregon