Issue 158, Volume 15
December 2011

Economies of Scale

by Roy Gray

Climb the supply chain Fill the production lines Flood the distribution channels Sail the waste stream Rot in the dump.		Capital has a high contact angle. On any surface the drops coalesce. Receding from a desert.
Permeate the aquifers Taint the soil Up the food chain Down the hatch.
Rise to the stratosphere Coldwards with Hadley Condense where the ice flows Pollute the Poles.	Drop in the ocean Sink without fuss Drift with the currents Poisonous	Kill flies Then high rise With the wind Spread around Thence to ground Rain over mankind
		Cool the food Then take flight Up to the stratosphere Frying tomorrow.
Oxidised carbon Makes the world roast So oceans expand Overland.	Stormy oceans Unstable icecaps Destabilised ecosystems Unstabled horses
		Eat more than you need Do less than you can Clog your arteries Die young man.
Gifted this world Wrapped in scatterblue skies Outwardly bountiful Dying inside		bleached corals beached whales extinct species big returns

I am an occasional poet. My poem Towards Darwin was reprinted in the 1999 Rhysling Anthology and has recently been accepted for a further 'reprint' in Astropoetica. I am an oft-rejected writer of short fiction who lives in Britain.

My publication record includes:
Fiction: Interzone 2001 & 2000
Reviews: Interzone, of genre theatre, (2000 &1998)
Articles: Irish Pharmachem Directory 2003, Freelance Writing & Photography, Packaging India (1995) Mindsparks, PharmaceuticalTechnology (Europe) & New Writings (1994)
Humour: Physics World (1994, 5 & 7)
Drama: In 2003 I won a UK Public Awareness of Science grant for a drama treatment that shows science or scientists in a ‘good light’.