GULF COAST 2012

I used to come out here to hook
  a flounder,white fish,even snook
  back when the beaches were so white
  and salty marshes showed no blight

The breeze was fresh and smelled of sea
  I thought that's how it'd always be
  but now what scents I chance to smell
  on still days, make me feel unwell

The flocks of birds which darkened skies
  and filled it with their raucous cries
  have been replaced by random crows
  that oversee where nothing grows

I once saw fleets of shrimping boats
  beyond where used to be sea oats
  and all the tourists ,tanned and oiled
  avoid this once pure sand ,now soiled

The marshes that once formed a foil
  to salt intrusion;  dead from oil
  who knows how long before it's right
  and not portray this awful sight

I remember how it was back then
   before the spring ,two thousand ten