In Memoriam ‪#‎SantaBarbaraOilSpill‬

Santa Barbara: Gunmetal gray waves. The handiwork of Texas-based Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. The LAND-BASED tar oil spill went from 21,000 gallons to 105,000 gallons. The oil slick is now nine miles long.

The air in Santa Barbara is so toxic, that they're not even letting people volunteer for the cleanup process. People who inhale hydrocarbons get pneumonia. Needless to say, the coast is closed for Memorial Day Weekend. Guess we'll be going down I-5 to Costa Mesa. The coast is closed.

This is the single largest oil spill along the ecologically sensitive Santa Barbara shoreline n 46 years.

In Memoriam for all the dying shore birds and marine life.

Today, I made my first meme: Our weapon of mass reconstruction against Big Oil.
‪#‎SantaBarbaraOilSpill‬.

The original Blue Dawn dishwashing liquid is very mild but cuts oil. Manicurists use it to soak and soften cuticles. Dawn will also clear out a stopped-up toilets and sink drains. According to the International Bird Rescue Research Center, Dawn effectively removes grease but does not cause harm to the skin of the birds. It’s also biodegradable and contains no phosphates.

‪#‎angry‬ With corporate thanks to Texas-based Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. Plains Pipeline, which owns and operates some 18,000 miles of oil pipeliness in several states, has garnered 175 safety and maintenance infractions since 2006, according to federal records. PP has spilled more than 688,000 gallons of hazardous oil products to the tune of more than $23 million in property damage.

Who remembers washing birds in dish soap during the 1969 oil spill? I washed grebes and pelicans. One grebe decided my eye looked edible. Luckily I turned away at the last second. He razored my cheek.

Shore birds affected by the oil spill include: the blue-eyed cormorants, the critically endangered snowy plover, brown pelicans, storm petrels, shearwaters, clapper and black rails, least terns, elegant terns, gull-billed terns, Heermann's gull, long-billed curlew, marbled godwit ,sanderlings, surfbirds, western sandpiper.

(From the Santa Barbara County endangered birds WatchList— 96 birds.
 Audubon is an advocate for the protection of wetlands and other areas important to birds' survival.)

All these birds are endangered, or are on the critical watchlist.

And I haven't even listed the land birds that too will be affected, nor the sea creatures.

PSA: If you see an oiled or injured bird or marine mammal on the Santa Barbara Coast, please call 877-823-6926 for animal rescue.

AT THE POETRY READING

AT THE POETRY READING

In the chapel, a murmur of poets 

avert their gaze from a writhing god 

nailed to the cross, & between poems,

they religiously applaud and slap 

the mosquitos & midges whining 

for blood revenge on sweaty skin. 

The poet laureate thanks them, 

leaves their minds itching.

9/2009 La Casa de Maria, Santa Barbara

rev. 7/13

WHILE DAVID STARKEY READS

WHILE DAVID STARKEY READS

Last night's half moon drew itself 

across the pond of the sky.

My camera trapped moving stars

combusting above the heads of poets.

A murmuration of poets genuflected 

their gaze averted from the weight 

of a writhing crucifix in the nave.

How the eye enters into it:

The poet's words throw light, 

a halo framed by oak and toyon

and the tide pull of the sky.

Last night's half moon 

rowed itself across the sky.

My camera obscura 

snared a faint trail of stars

as David read his poems 

of earlier fires.

Distant trickle of a fountain,

a murmur of poets and a lone crow 

warbling in the clear bell of the sky.

9/2009 La Casa de Maria, Santa Barbara

rev. 7/13

AT LA CASA DE MARIA

AT LA CASA DE MARIA

    (Amanda Chiado's class)

Distant trickle of water under oaks.

Lizards race across hot pavement.

Smoke crawls over the knife-edge

of the Santa Barbara Range.

A single cloud lost in an indigo sky

combusts in the eye: memory of earlier fires.

9/2009 La Casa de Maria, Santa Barbara

rev. 2013