Smallest Possible Impact

Abstract

Smallest Possible Impact Jane Satterfield (bio) We are always working to find new and better ways to do what we do with the smallest possible impact that we can have on our neighbors. —Devon Energy Corporation spokesman, Barnett Shale area, Texas We are looking for new & better which is why the uptick in earthquakes,oil rigs & seepage contamination events—we care for best-class operations, new ways of owning mineral rights, the noiseof earth-moving machines. We have never polluted which is why we find dust in new bowls of new kitchens, in microwaves,in brightly hued mixing bowls, on hoods of paint-stripped parked cars. Evidence is anecdotal, inappropriate to discuss.New ways are healthy & safe & burn more cleanly than coal. We are always working to detect public meetings, residual waste.We are sitting on good supply. We are dizzy, asthmatic, exempt from disclosure, working a buy off if things go wrong. We are neighbors &nosebleeds; disruptors & mutagens. We have never sat in new ways of foreclosed homes. [End Page 200] Jane Satterfield JANE SATTERFIELD is the recipient of awards in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, Bellingham Review, Ledbury Poetry Festival, Mslexia, and more. Her poetry books are Her Familiars, Assignation at Vanishing Point, Shepherdess with an Automatic, and Apocalypse Mix, winner of the 2016 Autumn House Prize. Born in England, she lives in Baltimore.* Copyright © 2016 University of North Carolina Wilmington