A Horror Story

Our book club will be discussing a scary book at our next meeting. I remember reading the book sometime in the seventies. In fact, I found the copy on my book shelf and it is so old that the pages are turning yellow. When I read it, way back then, I do not remember thinking too much about it. It almost seemed like science fiction and I did not believe it pertained to me. The facts were so ugly that I never believed that such things could happen in my future. I suppose being young when I read the book, I thought I was invincible and nothing could harm me.

I did write something in 1978 and believe, because I am not sure when or why I wrote it, that it may have been after reading Silent Spring.  

Pollution

The brown ball spins in space,

rotating its face to meet the sun.

I see the chocolate slime

spreading, smearing

covering

    every crevice,

       choking every stream

           killing all that's green.

A brown cloud

floats over towns

and before long

      our world drowns.

E. Moscoso  

January 5, 1978

I finished re-reading Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, and it scared me because now I know that what she wrote about, using information from the fifties, has and is coming true. One thing that is frightening is that sprays that are were used to control insects or weeds in the past can still be hanging around right now in this day and age. I remember as a teen killing flies by spraying them with DDT, which luckily was prohibited from use in 1972. But who knows what harm I could have done to myself or to the environment.

The Internet describes DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroe) as a pesticide used to kill insects who carry diseases. The scary thing is that it not only killed the insects but anything or anyone who came in contact with it. Birds, fish, water, animals and landscapes all suffered with the deadly spray. The science fiction part comes into play, in my thoughts, when bugs mutate and become resistent to the poison, somehow able to survive in a different form, causing scientist to come up with a stronger and more potent poison!

Makes me wonder if now, in 2017, has anything changed? I purchased some weed killer and decided to read the instructions and what is sold today is pretty potent and dangerous stuff. Maybe I will try the Epsom salt, Dawn dish water soap and vinegar as a more natural weed killer instead of using what is sold. Supposedly, the large variety of weed killers are safe, but how do we know for sure. In the future we might get a report that what we are using today is as bad as DDT!

After reading the book, I wrote:

A Horror Story

I hate horror stories and scary movies
yet, in reading Silent Spring
I realize that we are living in a
frightening world every day.
Breathing, drinking and eating
are no longer okay.
To be rid of pesky weeds
or unwanted insects
airplanes flew over the land
at any farmer's demand.
Spraying without a care
all the poison was there to share
leaving birds unable to fly
fish to die
cattle or sheep getting ill
and humans eating tainted meals
loaded with what had been sprayed.
Fruits and vegetables were not safe
and to this day, who knows what
entered our body to cause havoc
deep inside our unsuspecting organs.
At that time it was not known
that making poisons to kill unwanted things
would also kill animals with hoofs, paws or wings.
Making money
seemed to be more important
than health, because chemists were
making potions fighting against nature.
Not all facts were presented
giving the impression that all was safe.
 I was reminded of a child's verse;
A horse ate a cow
the cow ate a dog
the dog ate a cat,
the cat ate a mouse,
the mouse ate a bug
the bug ate a fly
(full of DDT)
and then it died!
After reading the book of information of the 1950's
I hope that in this day and age
things are different and more in control.
I am surprised that so many of us are still alive;
that we have been able to survive
with the many poisons floating around,
it's surprising that any kind of health can be found.
It is even a greater miracle than I thought
that I am still walking and talking
yet, who knows what secrets lurk inside my body
from my head to my toe
that may have snuck in a long time ago?
There it rests quietly waiting to make its mark
living in a world that has turned scary and dark!
E. Moscoso
December 6, 2017