Alternative Truths Poem by Mary Champion

The Experts and the Authorities
speak only statistical truths:
5% of this,76% of that,
2.1 in a thousand,
83 parts in a trillion.

But the average human mind
is statistically 80% illiterate.
They judge effects
by a more personal measure.
When they or their loved ones
are struck down by an outside chance
the truth is
that they are 100% victim.

The closing of this factory
or that shipyard
might increase unemployment
and underemployment by 2%,
but for those declared redundant
it is 100% disastrous.

And when a wonder-drug
kills its 1 in 10 million victim
they are completely and utterly
100% DEAD!