O lid of clang & wheels of clatter,
O collector of rubbish & swill, O Holy Mother
of great pickings, of dreck & slop: Hear our prayer.
O saint of litter & scrap, protect us
from the banana peel, the Styrofoam chunk,
from all that defies reduce/reuse/recycle.
O divine casting off, O sacred decay!
Hallelujah to the Hefty Ultra-Flex 33 Gallon,
the drawstring, the twist-tie.
You hold dear everything
everyone never wanted or wanted once,
a sack or a heap tossed & tumbled.
Praise to those who dive into the belly
of your dump — the urban foragers, the hungry,
scraping a meal of crust & bone.
Consecrate them, O Queen of rubble
robed in graffiti. Watch over them,
that they may not themselves become waste
to be managed, a cubic yard of flesh
primed for front-loading. Now,
and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
© T. Clear 2010
 |
| Big White Rusty, by Rachel Maxi © |
I've had another dumpster poem on this blog - NZ poet Airini Beautrais' poem called A Good Story which starts: 'My friend likes to find things in skip bins...'
After reading these two fine poems please pop to the Tuesday Poem hub for a wonderful Sam Hunt poem - thrilled to have him there.
