earth note 250

thunderstorms rocked the ridge
setting off some car alarms
as if disputing
the main hypothesis
of the president's speech
yesterday
on energy
     coddling up
     with the nukes
     and frackers
     and lyin' 'clean coal' hucksters

the skies opened a plethora
of white lightning
the new panorama took over
from tired models
of disease & greed
drowning out the droning
of the moneychangers
     turkeys regrouping in the brush
     as a fox crept up
     on the edge of the ridge
     rain spilling rivers
     toward the rivers
flushing out illusions of every brimstone gospel

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)