Chemical Staves

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1.
Ants communicate by chemicals
messages like sand bags passing
hand to hand        helping out

Back of the cupboard door
carpenter ants swarm
to food        funnel through a crack

2.
The mustard gas they sprayed on mothers
in northern Iraq induced labor—
birth agonies        where both die

Not living long enough to be named
survivors called them "Chemicals"
Their first breath       brought the grave

3.
Wealth and starvation both
out of proportion—
capitalism        catapulting

In a land of exquisite medicines
curing cancer why is there no race
for a cure        to class struggle?

4.
"We Cover the Earth" on the side
of a truck—its logo a can of
paint       poured from outer space

red pigments covering the planet
Looming environmental catastrophe: or:
a red wish for a fix-up        of our future