In order to view this poem as the author intended it to appear, we suggest reading it on a computer screen or in the landscape orientation on your phone.

Language of Chemicals and Probable Cause
Dave Seter

We scientists speak a language of chemicals and probable cause,
chosen from the periodic table of elements and from
a lexicon of government guidance documents.
Arsenic: known to cause cancer in people, and skin lesions.
Uranium: radioactive, used to make bombs, also harmful to kidneys.
We have measured these chemicals in the dust blowing
off the copper mine, flowing in groundwater beneath,
have collected samples with trowels and spoons, with
peristaltic pumps and tubing snaked into water wells.
We talk in terms of dose-response: how much can cause harm.
Parts per billion? Parts per trillion? The numbers sound
small but medical science says small amounts harm
the sensitive individual: the child, the pregnant mother.
The faces to whom we explain, growing familiar as studies
draw on, show worry, confusion, skepticism, anger,
in different measure depending on whether the face
is worn by pregnant mother or corporate investor.
Yes, we say, the mine probably caused these chemicals
to flow into neighborhoods in water, in dust.
Citizens want to know how arsenic, how uranium,
will affect their health, their wealth, today and tomorrow.
We’ve been trained in a language of scientific detachment
but grow less detached as we get to know the locals. No, we don’t
live here, those of us from the government—we’re here to help you—
some hear it as truth, some as punchline to a joke.
Sometimes I say nothing when nothing seems true.

—
Dave Seter is an ecopoet and the author of Don’t Sing to Me of Electric Fences (Cherry Grove Collections, 2021). His poetry is informed by his career in environmental enforcement geared toward protecting drinking water and helping to heal the scars of mineral extraction in the Western United States.

Know anyone who might appreciate reading Dave’s poem?
Why not share the link to this page?

Have you read these poems:
Trifle by R. A. Allen
In My This Time by Richard Eric Johnson

Table of Contents