by Alex Steelsmith

“[Staff] noticed treated water being discharged into Clear Creek had an unusual pink coloration…
‘[T]he dye does not appear… to have had any adverse biological impact on Clear Creek,’ the city said.”
—UPI

Locally, vocally,
public authorities
claim that the water is
healthy to drink;

hydrobiologists’
microanalyses
show that the plankton are
still in the pink.

Seemingly, teemingly,
fish and amphibians
thrive, though the coloring
can’t be denied.

Some might consider it
counterintuitive;
everything’s living, yet
everything’s dyed.