THE ENERGY POLICY ACT
“I stood by truth to establish light in the land.” NERUDA
I stand here speaking one lone truth. Politicos, profiteers get drunk, stoned, laid celebrating partnership. Energy policy lifts into law protecting polluters amassing billions as they drill fill an endless list of wants crayons to cameras, curtains bandages to boats, deodorant, detergents lipstick, limousines, loudspeakers. We stand amid shards of splintered dreams slivered hearts lament emerald water sparkling sand salted with our tears oiled with greed relentless need for gasoline plastic bags, golf balls, perfume credit cards, sunglasses and skis. Truth is hard, simple, pure. Convenience is easy, complicated corrupt as our blackened coast the kindred politicos and profiteers who foul our world.
As a newcomer to the Emerald Coast, Mary Ann Napoleone enjoys belonging to the West Florida Literary Federation. She has conducted creative writing workshops for many years, taught at the Ohio State University, the University of Toledo and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. Along with joy and love, anger inspires her poetry. The BP atrocity provides that impetus.
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.CONTENTS
Photo Essay
A Tale of Two Beaches: The BP Oil Spill, Before and AfterProse
Nirvana No MoreWe Need New Legs
Watching the Beach Workers
The Daydreams of a Believer
Viewpoint
The Last Swim
Poetry
HUCKSTER (OIL SPIEL)SLOW DROWN
Pensacola Beach
Our Loss
He Got His Life Back
Haiku
THE REAL QUESTION
EXPLOSION OF THE BP MACONDO OIL WELL
Brutal Performance
Black Gold
B R I T I S H P E T R O L E U M
Dangerous People
All Is Not Well & Other Unpleasant Realities (Courtesy of BP)
Four Haiku
But, especially,
The Blackness Carnivals
Mississippi Coast Lament
Tarballs
Reaper Screaming in The Gulf
Capped
spill
DON’T TOUCH OUR PROFITS
ONLY A MEMORY
DAY FORTY-FIVE OF THE DEEPWATER DISASTER
THE ENERGY POLICY ACT
Black Death