sign

I know several of you have already read or heard this, but here it is again. - Ray

Sign – First Published at www.tpqonlin.org

This message brought to you
by the Tennessee Valley Authority,
by business, industry and government,
by progress, prosperity and jobs.

Mercury:
It’s an element.
It’s a metal.
It’s a liquid.
It’s toxic.

Mercury:
It’s a capsule
launched into space
to orbit the earth,
splash down
in the Pacific Ocean.

Alan Shepard
rode the first
Mercury capsule;
splashed down
in the pages
of history books.

Tennessee River waters contain
Mercury,
not the space capsule,
but the element.
It’s a metal.
It’s a liquid.
It’s toxic.

Tennessee River fish contain
Mercury,
not the space capsule,
but the element.
It’s a metal.
It’s a liquid.
It’s toxic.


Pregnant women
should not eat
these fish.

Nursing mothers
should not eat
these fish.

Children
should not eat
these fish.

Adult males
may eat
these fish.

Women past child bearing age
may eat
these fish.

Elderly people
are encouraged to eat
these fish.

Homeless people
are required to eat
these fish.

That is all.
Have a nice day.

This piece was first published at www.tpqonline.org and has since appeared in Presenting the Beatniks, a publication of the Trenton Arts Council, Trenton, Georgia. It also appears in my chap book, Searching for Cranes. Contributing Editor Jeff Biggers reviewed Searching for Cranes in the November/December, 2008 issue of Bloomsbury Review. Copies of Presenting the Beatniks and Searching for Cranes are archived at Poets House, New York, New York.