(Challenged to use the following words, in some form:
graffiti, inject, Jonah, predict, scrape, and swarm.)
The tanker trucks stack up along the pipeline
with eager drills and empty tanks to fill,
come to inject another million gallons
of water, sand and chemicals down the well,
which several thousand feet below the surface
is pressurized enough to crack the shale,
releasing precious gusts of natural gases
to pipe along the plains of Jonah Field.
Graffiti on the storage tank may protest
groundless fears about contamination,
citing prying scientists’ predictions
about environmental ramifications…
Dying fish in nearby lakes and rivers,
an earthquake swarm in Arkansas, perhaps,
plus locals claiming headaches and infections
and flammable gray water from the tap.
But in the field, they drill and scrape
the bottom of the barrel unopposed.
Luckily the whole thing’s very safe.
It’s only water! (and chemicals undisclosed)