Are Wind Farms Making People Sick?
a found poem
by Donna Trussell
The 27 turbines in the Bluegrass Ridge
dedicated in September
in February spilled over
into a fistfight, then a lawsuit.
A third of a mile from Charles Porter’s home –
the sound of blades swooshing
through air, driving his family
crazy. The turbines emit a low,
humming vibration. Some compare
it to a train that never arrives.
“The sound gets in your head like a saw,”
Porter said, “like a rope swinging
over your head.” Powerful strobe
lights come on at dawn and dusk,
lighting up the inside of his home.
Nausea, exhaustion, headaches,
a consistent cluster of symptoms.
Wind Turbine Syndrome, a vibro-
acoustic disease, an emerging problem.
It was during the holidays that family
emotions began splitting
at the seams. Porter was thrown
to the ground, hit and kicked.
The county has hired an attorney.
“If you are focused on wind turbines
as a problem in your life
then they’re going to be a problem
in your life.” Said a banker in town,
“When indoors, you don’t really hear them.
Everybody else has been very positive.”
