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Pegasus Gasoline
Pegasus was rustled by Mobil.
Texas
oilmen put their branding iron
on the ancient symbol of Poetry
and turned it into their corporate logo--
just like Shell took as their trademark
an innocent seashell, to prettify
their ugly supertanker/gasguzzler strategy,
to camouflage their gas-price shellgame,
to whitewash a grimey industry
whose oilspills befoul the Muse's fountain
as well as the splendor of Neptune's
realm,
and whose incessant infernal combustion
pollutes the Nature that is Poetry's source.
Now that Exxon bought Mobil for many billions,
the immortal symbol of immortal poetry
is usurped by the corporation that spilled ten million
gallons of oil on pristine Alaskan shores.
Hundreds of volunteers worked to clean oil
off many thousands of otters and birds.
But who will clean Mobil-Exxon's filthy oil
off the wing'd steed of Poetry?
The Tortoise and
the Semi
Ninja Turtles
invade Turtle Island
while ancient Turtle species
stretching back to the foundation
of the Earth trudge toward extinction
because boys have been brainwashed
to fantasize cartoon turtles
rather than Real Turtles
that lurk in pond or creek.
And the Turtle whose back
supports the Planet makes
her way patiently across
the lonely night highway
of the Milky Way in the
path of the runaway semi
of urban-industrial hit-and-run.
On a more cheerful note:
lots of Turtles do
make it
across roads without getting
squashed. Let's
hope our Turtle
is one of those lucky Turtles!
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