A Poem

The air is fragile like dried leaves
the oxygen scatters
broken by the dust
lead
arsenic
hazmat
poisons
They don't tell us the poisons
innumerable
dioxins
PCBS
actinides
Stirred
falling settling gently into place
on our mountains
for the next rain
flowing with the water
faster pouring raging down the arroyos
the roads
the rooftops
into our river
A glass poised beneath the faucet
thirst
is a great water filter
ignorance
denial
is the grasshopper singing in the wind
while ants
gather the hazmat
and carry it into our bones
the survivors
left to fight over the few hundred jobs
the money
the power
a poisoned people provide

do you live in the Paso del Norte
or
do you live
in denial?