Emerald Coast Writers Inc.

All Is Not Well & Other Unpleasant Realities (Courtesy of BP)

Robert McGee

All is not well when the well blows up:
An oil rig can burn for days on end;
Then it can crumble and sink like a brick.

Accident and Negligence are not the same things.
Some people’s lives are expendable.

A blowout is not a leak.
A blowout preventer prevents nothing.
A relief well provides no relief.

Dispersants disperse oil.
Lots of dispersants disperse lots of oil.
Dispersants are toxic.

Solitude is an oily beach.

The equivalent of 207,000,000 gallons
Is roughly 4,900,000 barrels.
A bird caked in crude can’t fly.

A CEO can hop on a plane with a $17,000,000 bonus.

For the past 28 years Robert McGee, a native of Clarksdale, Mississippi, has lived in Mobile, Alabama, where he works in a factory. He is married with two grown children. Collecting old books and writing poems are his favorite hobbies. He has a burgeoning appetite for history and art.

The Spill

In 2010, when the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill exploded and threatened the way of life that Gulf Coast residents know and love, West Florida Literary Federation offered an outlet for expression. During the six months when the uncapped well gushed, and for one year following the successful capping of the well, writers, poets and photographers from across the country sent us their words, thoughts and feelings, thereby providing a literary record of the Deep Water Horizon environmental disaster. Here are the best of the submissions.

The Spill Detail

All Is Not Well & Other Unpleasant Realities (Courtesy of BP)

All Is Not Well & Other Unpleasant Realities (Courtesy of BP)

The Spill

CONTENTS

Photo Essay

Prose

Poetry

Short Fiction