This is My Forties

I am going to march with my fellow scientists on April 22nd, and for many great reasons. Here are a few. It was discovered in 1929 that lead was poisonous in paint ... however, lobbyists fought science on it until 1978 when it was finally banned. It killed thousands of people, mostly children. They blamed it on parents. They said science wasn't proving without a doubt that lead was bad. They wanted to force laws on science that are incredibly restrictive and unreasonable. They are doing this now with our food and our environment. Food corporations spend billions of dollars lobbying to keep themselves in business by encouraging the government to use old or unsound science (that was bought and paid for) instead of the hundreds of well-researched and articulated studies done by independent laboratories. They employ lawyers to whittle down scientific studies... lawyers. Not scientists. They argue over syntax, not content. Their main goal is economics, not health. It is...

You never see the lonely They hide in plain sight The floor below in Boyden With the tables packed and loud Hovering above, playing their Symphonies of belonging. The lonely sit among the statues The cold and silent stone The unwanted doppelgangers of Rome Below the echo of laughs like thunder Muffled conversations gather like clouds And rain down An added reminder That there's nothing here Nothing but the lonely As those who belong Collect their stories on Olympus Here I am Non-traditional Forgotten and old.