"Smoke stacks"

by Shelly Sitzer

Smoke stacks
And oil rigs color the views
Pigs are getting fatter
But not the animal kind.

Not the pretty pink pigs
With curly tails
But the ones with pink skins
And short hair

They work near the oil rigs
Some work to extract gold
They all take, take, take
Depleting mother nature's soil.

What do they give back,
Gold coins at the market place
Where some cannot buy
Because the good things are scarce.

Things like sweet apples
Are disappearing from trees
Too hot for their blossoms
They wither and die.