What People Are Talking About in Wellfleet

Don’t you just love garden centers? That’s one thing everyone can agree upon: flowers. They sure beautify a property. No two ways about it. When Sven and I picked up some mulch yesterday, we admired the spring options at Sunflowers, on Route 6. I saw my friend Beverly, who works at Wellfleet's newest garden center, and told her the good news about the crows. Then she rushed off to sell some organic compost. Sven was chatting with the owner about how teenagers these days don't want to work, that the importation of a foreign labor force to man restaurants in summer has given local kids a bad work ethic. I watched a young man settle into a lawn chair, in front of the fertilizer shack, while his wife meandered among the flower displays, intent on choosing the perfect plant.Meanwhile, my brain was mulling over issues before Town Meeting tomorrow night. Having been a Committee Secretary in Wellfleet once upon a time, I know how hard many residents work on our volunteer town committees. Still differences of opinion are normal. And non-residents don't always see things the way residents do. The controversies this week, some resolved, some not, inspired me to write this poem:

No poison for crows, the Seashore decides.
“About time!” says Swede Plaut, against pesticides.
No turbine at White Crest, Duck Pond instead;
Nope, say Selectmen, who all five see red
And kill Wellfleet’s turbine with one vote.
“Too risky,” says Denny (O’C). “The town will go broke.”
“What?” Geoff Karlson protests, not at all pleased.
“Save the planet first,” replies Kahn, down on her knees.
“Not the Seashore.” She counter-attacks:
Two “yes” votes on Monday could bring turbines back.
And what of the power lines, will NStar give in?
O’Leary and Peake sure hope their side wins.
“Herbicides can do harm,” declares Michael May.
Bill Delahunt wrote Ms. Jackson at the EPA.
The issue of wastewater also draws nays.
Some want clusters, others see green ways
To handle sewage: “ecological design.”
“Todd’s green machine might work fine.”
“And hey! Who chose that water tower, so ugly and round?”
Things sure get convoluted in our small seaside town!