is nature for us?

water for power

a muted whirring from giant turbines spinning,

miles of tunnels empty their passengers,

all of whom race toward the sea,

their power gives us electricity to use to power our houses,

all of this built in a frenzy in the 1920s

to turn bauxite to aluminum,

to the left the river is so tamed by the dam upstream

that it’s listless while all its stored energy

flows long and hard down the tunnels

to froth white and green

below the concrete and brick wall of the power plant,

nature can be savored for itself

or used for us,

and how can we find balance?

by Henry H. Walker

May 24, ‘15