The newspaper promises
to put readers’ interest first
while making an impact
on people’s lives.
I turn to the Science section.
Here’s a study, four years old,
about phytoplankton;
said to release half the world’s oxygen
into the atmosphere.
The process requires iron;
the researcher speculates
where that might come from.
At the bottom of the page,
mystery solved:
feces of whales
10 million times richer in iron
than the ocean water.
I take a deep breath.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
