Demand Response
The energy company politely asksthat we turn down our heat,
turn off our appliances,
and kindly assist them
in managing the grid
we already pay for
with our ever-increasing bills.
I wear three layers,
huddled under blankets
while the heat strips
my bank account bare.
The thermostat is set to sixty-four.
Is that low enough?
Every outage, every spike,
an excuse to raise our bills,
to pass on the cost
of maintenance and expansion.
The data centers are waiting.
They do not beg the producers
to curb production.
The machinery of profit
runs steadily on -
investor return the priority.
Only the consumers
are told to suck it up.
Poetry by Melinda K Zarate
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Editors' choiceWritten on 2026-02-02 at 19:27
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Editorial Team |
|
D G Moody |
|
William Hughes |
|
Ray Miller |
