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Ode to Piney Point

By Staff | May 5, 2021

To the editor:

A letter to the editor submitted during national poetry month:

I do not like DeSantis’ plan

Dumping toxics in Tampa bay again

I do not like nitrogen

Phosphorus nor radium

Not in my water, gulf nor sea

Not in my house nor community

Should toxic dumping subsidy

Agro-giants and industry

I do not like DeSantis’ plan

To lie and lie and lie again

The AP reports radioactivity

From phosphogypsum and radium

In the water dumped from Piney point dam

Scott as governor also kicked the can

And allowed the site’s uranium

To sit and sit and sit some more

Instead of removing the unsafe water store

For years now Piney point has stewed

And now, oh now, what shall we do?

One fish, two fish, how many more

Will float back dead upon our shore?

Manatee County votes so red

Their algae water’s gone green and dead

But DeSantis says what is not true

That “heavy metals”aren’t bad for you

Are housing values upward prone

When doused with ammonia nitrogen?

With apologies to Dr. Seuss.

Ellen Starbird

Cape Coral