Pollution, Carcinogens, Cancer

The gray plume rises
residue of industry
nostalgic shadow
of fleeting revolution
never quiet retreating
vesper incense
consecrating the
Titans of Industry
Rockefeller, Carnegie
still floating above
urban steeples,
steel towers,
then descending
to the altars
of blind consumers,
sacrificial lambs
serving Mamon
wittingly addicted
to the end product:
snack cakes, plastic toys,
bigger cars, endless paper
as polymers, chemicals,
by products enfilade
their oxygen tanks
afterthought to most
benign foreign agents
with little effort
repulsed by coughs,
sneezes, burning tears
until the clandestine force
third-hand smoke
gains a beachhead
mounting invisible
toxic wave after wave
deciphering the genetic code
that will covertly
allow its carcinogen army
to infiltrate immune defenses
sending a riptide of carcinoma,
melanoma over the ramparts
laying siege to
the lungs, bowels
transforming healthy-
doctor-certified patients
into the walking dead