.. a thought provoking ditty for the Gulf of Mexico ..

52 BP oil spill days and it’s still on.
How many years will it be ’till this mess is gone?
Barrels by the millions leaked into the sea.
Wouldn’t now be a good time for Clean Energy?

Political cartoon of a pelican joking about the 2010 BP oil spill

Day 53 and the Gulf’s oily sheen,
Makes me work to make more energy clean.

day fifty-four
and what is more
that oil spill hasn’t stopped
since that deep pipe first popped.

day fifty-five and the spill’s alive,
don’t worry, mother nature will survive.
it’s just the birds and sea life that may not thrive,
and whoever cared about them?
aren’t they just eye candy for people who dive?

Day fifty-six of the bp oil spill fix,
Obama visited the Gulf again and played political pick-up sticks.
He made the company promise to suck-up more oil,
Now watch the CEOs blood pressure boil.

Fifty Seven days of the Gulf oill spill mess.
it’s BP’s, not Murphy’s or Exxon’s or Hess.
Don’t worry, the suits say, it’s under control,
besides, costly cleanups are part of our role.

Day fifty-eight, BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill,
Last night Obama Addressed it, but it’s leakin’ still,
He promised we’ll soon be using clean energy,
Do you believe him now? He said it on TV.

Day fifty-nine and the oil’s spillin’ fine,
The BP Chairman cares for ‘the small people’, ain’t that Divine?
Obama’s gone Beyond Politics and strong-armed $20 Billion from BP,
Can’t you see the silver lining dancing around like the kids on Glee?

Sixty days of the BP gulf oil spill.
Yesterday wayward Hayward gave the hill a thrill.
“I’m afraid”, “i can’t answer that”, “i don’t know”, “i can’t say”,
and for all the political theatre, the crude poisons still kill today.

The BP oil spill’s in Day Sixty One.
Tony Hayward’s not having fun.
He got canned last night for failing
to cap all that oil that’s leaking.

Day Sixty Two of the BP oil spill.
Hawyard is making big gaffes still.
This time yesterday he was relaxing on a yacht.
Apparently his life back, he got.

As they spill oil in the water,
They’ll put more rigs on the water
We’ll be at shore and cleaning ‘em
We’ll fill our tanks with salt-free oil now

Day Sixty-Three and the oil out at sea,
Is coming to shore and it’s yours all for free,
Now if only you could separate all the fuel,
From the BP oil spill with which nature must duel.

Day Sixty Four, the well is spilling ore.
They said that it was less, and now they say it’s more.
If they don’t contain it soon, it will spill well past June,
And likely we will see, more BP oil at sea.

The oil spill flowed on Day Sixty Five,
The mess is huge, and less is alive.
Avoid swimming in the Gulf of Mexico,
Unless you like collecting tarballs as you go.

What’s all the fuss on Day Sixty Six?
The tar’s in the Gulf and it’s stickin’ to sticks.
If only that was all it was,
it might not kill birds and fish.

Spare a thought for the oily Hell of Day Sixty Seven.
It’s worse than they first admitted, it’s certainly no Heaven.
Unless of course you liked the oil-drenched chick from Spinal Tap,
in which case this is your Amp that goes up to Eleven.

Day Sixty Eight, ain’t life great?
So much for A-bomb fears, this cleanup will take years.
And believe it or not, many people have seen
problems much slicker than this one has been.

Day Sixty Nine,
was anything but fine.
The sheen on the water,
BP’s oil floats and shines.

Day Seventy and the slick is growing moment by moment.
Every day brings a whole new mega disaster.
It just goes to show you even the crude can be potent.
It’s time to channel Clean Energy, as would a good master.

Day Seventy-One,
BP’s cleanup isn’t fun,
The oil keeps leaking, and relief work’s stopping,
’till Alex the Hurricane unblocks the Sun.

The BP oil spill’s in Day Seventy-Two,
The Petroleum people say “This Leak’s For You!”
Don’t cry over spilled oil,
It’ll just make your blood boil.

Day Seventy-Three!
Is it time to jump with Glee?
They say they’re letting in foreign super-skimmers, to clean up BP’s oil now.
Maybe one, two or even more than three! Oh Alex, you Hurricane, don’t have a cow!

Day Seventy-Four,
BP is spilling ore,
They say they’re doing all they can to stop it,
While it just spills out more and more.

The BP oil spill is in Day Seventy-Five.
The gulf is filthy, though it’s alive.
The fish and birds are hoping that
a bad Summer won’t trim their fat.

Day Seventy-Six,
The Gulf of Mexico is full of slicks,
Most of them are men in suits,
And this problem they can’t seem to troubleshoot.

Day Seventy-Seven of the Big Petrol Oil spill,
Oh what A Whale of a thrill. The filth is like a homogenizes soup,
Getting filtered by a super skimmer.
Let’s all hope the boat is handled by a super skipper.

The permission slips came rolling in,
And now the super suckers are making the bad oil thinner.
If they keep working through the Winter,
The Gulf coast life will be the winner.

The oil’s been flowing for Seventy Nine days.
BP meanwhile says it’ll be some more months,
’till the leak is capped and they fix their ways.
Aren’t you glad the suits are taking no lumps?

Eighty Days of free oil spillin’,
Weighty ways of crude waves chillin’
the birds’ feathers and sea life’s killin’
the tourist economy as the Gulf’s fillin’
with BP pollution, ain’t that thrillin’?

Day Eighty One and the oil keep going up.
The mouths in Washington won’t shut up.
They say they’re doing all they can to help.
So why did they delay every step along the way?

The oil still spilled on Day Eighty-Two.
The poisons and costs are coming after you.
There’s really not too much to say.
There’s not much else that you can do.

Slick as Glee on Day Eighty-Three.
If it’s bad for you, is it good for BP?
Why can’t I see what I used to see?
The Gulf of Mexico is an oily sea.

Day Eighty-Four and BP’s oil flowed.
No time to waste, no folks to goad.
The zoots in suits are ready to explode.
Better get yer spillin’ cap on, ya toad.

Day Eighty-Five and the spill’s alive.
That’s not saying much if you’re sea life.
Sure, dolphins and pelicans in crude oil don’t thrive.
Just say Thank You they didn’t drown your wife.

Day Eighty-Six and the oil spill’s tricks,
keep rising up to surface and cover all the sticks.
You wonder and you hope that the end is getting nearer.
Just don’t hope that the capping of the well will be a fix.

On the Eighty-Seventh Day,
BP said All is OK.
They capped the leak and are now cleaning.
What lessons learned? What insight’s gleaning?

Day Eighty-eight, ain’t life great?
They say the oil’s making no escape.
BP’s monitoring and testing.
The folks are hoping and watching,
And now the good people in the Gulf,
Are dealing with the aftermath of April’s blast

Day Eighty-Nine and the Gulf is doing better.
Now the wildlife and people are sending BP a letter.
They are demanding to know when they’ll be eased of pain.
And how will they ever get rich off of oil again?

~~
The preceding poem was written by Sam Goodman of the Clean Energy Connection, during the Summer of 2010, while the BP oil spill was polluting the Gulf of Mexico.