Pollution permeates “The Leash,” exposing the wounds in the planet and in ourselves. Nature and people are both tainted by the negative events brought on by ignorance, hatred, selfishness, and greed. Part of the tragedy, the poem insists, is that the pollution is of our own making.

The first kind of pollution mentioned in “The Leash” is manufactured violence. Human ingenuity, turned toward destruction, has created bombs, weapons, and bullets, using them in wars, attacks, and murders. In contrast to the positive leashing in the closing portion of the poem, the beginning shows “the frantic automatic weapons unleashed” (Line 2) into “a crowd holding hands” (Line 3). Innocence and community are cut down.

The environment is also polluted. The sanctuary offered by pristine nature is compromised when “The hidden nowhere river is poisoned / orange and acidic by a coal mine” (Lines 6-7). Watersheds are contaminated from mining practices and accidents. The acidic water is undrinkable and “silvery fish after fish / comes back belly up” (Lines 11-12).

The final straw, perhaps, is when humans turn on one another—when “the country plummets / into a crepitating crater of hatred” (Lines 12-13). The cacophonous crackle is so loud, it almost blocks out any trace of “something singing” (Line 14).