80,000 Is An Even Number Poem by Raymond Farrell

80,000 is an even number
which could be the population
of a medium-sized city
in the American mid-west
with medium-sized family homes
on medium-sized lots
surrounded by picket fences
occupied by medium-sized families
in a neighborhood of friendly people
but the truth be told
it is the approximate number
of registered chemicals in the USA
a very small fraction of which
have been tested for safety
and most of that testing
is woefully inadequate
placing all the people
exposed
across the continent
and beyond
to undetermined side effects
in this ongoing experiment
in which we have all been
unwittingly and unwillingly enrolled
without our consent
by those who
all too often
put profits
above
everything else.