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Wednesday, April 25, 2018

THE BALLAD OF SCOTT PRUIT

by Edward Zuk


Image from “Environmental Plundering Agency by Brian McFadded at The Nib.


When health and safety threaten greed across this land of ours,
To whom do corporations turn to exercise his powers?
Who trashes standards then explains it with a bland cliché?
It is Scott Pruitt, mighty leader of the EPA!

Who scoffs at scientists and what they claim to be “the truth”?
Who likes to joke with lobbyists inside his soundproof booth?
Who flies in secret round the world in first-class all the way?
It is Scott Pruitt, jet-set madman of the EPA!

He kicks and headlocks edicts, punches rules right in the nose,
Then knocks out regulations with his well-timed body blows.
Who cares if it’s all legal or the courts demand a stay?
He is Scott Pruitt, fearless fighter of the EPA!

When nonexistent death threats make this dauntless man afraid,
Security is there so that he will not be waylaid.
It’s well-spent dollars from the taxes of the USA
To save Scott Pruitt, precious treasure of the EPA!

When streams and rivers are too clean and need some mercury,
When oil is trapped in parks without a well to set it free,
When species are endangered but somehow still hang around
Without that one more final blow to lay them in the ground,

When woodland ponds are lacking coal ash and some manganese,
When people ought to breathe in smoke and lead from factories,
What do the billionaires and massive corporations say?
We’ll call Scott Pruitt, matchless leader of the EPA!


Edward Zuk is a poet from British Columbia, Canada. His work has appeared in The Queen's Quarterly, The Raintown Review, Modern Haiku, and TheNewVerse.News