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Thursday, January 7, 2010

Ode to a Plastic Sack



One in a billion
is this sack, my sack,
on this particular day
My white elastic
plastic sack
with loops for hands
held just so
triumphantly
designed
by some all-seeing
eye that sought
the masterpiece
and found it
in a sheer glossy
sheet of petroleum
distillate.
Oh, versatile bag
I could tie you
to my feet and wear
you like shoes
I could pull you
over my head
like a white helmet
in a rain storm
You could become
extensions of my
hands: I could pick up
dog feces and cat
crap without soiling
my fingers
Though you waft
like a linen curtain
in the breeze
your kind has
a great weight
Eight billion pounds
of plastic sacks
Manevering trash
every year
And you weather
many storms
One thousand years
will pass before
you decompose
far longer than
the United States
of America
will last

25 comments:

Karen said...

I love this Ode to a Legacy! Ha!

Anonymous :) said...

Very creative and oh so true.

Anonymous said...

Oh the uses of plastic bags. I have found homeless people living in, sleeping in plastic bags in the woods with snow on the ground.

You produced something original and thoughtful here.

Secretia

Alan Burnett said...

Yes, a thing so simple can have such an impact on our planet. And an ode on a thing so simple can have such an impact on how we see things.

the walking man said...

Welcome to the burgeoning legion of activist poets.

Brian Miller said...

paper or plastic? how about cloth? i have used a plastic bag in many a way in my day...but now i can not...nicely done chris...

Anonymous said...

The part about the dog feces resonated with me.

I am a tried and true canvas bagger at the grocery store. But from time to time I need some plastic just to handle the dog doo.

Brilliant.

Julie said...

I love it! There are many uses for them. Thankfully, our local store has a recycle bin for plastic bags. I get so mad when I see one tossed in a river where I can't reach it.

Tall Kay said...

This is a poem that could be printed on the outside of the cloth reuseable bags! I keep buying the bags and forgetting to bring them with me to the store. Wonderful "green" reminder.

Anonymous said...

I really liked this Chris. I hate those darn bags!

There is one that has been stuck high in a tree, blowing in the wind for over a year across the field from my house. I always though it was so ironic that we started using plastic to save the trees, and now the trees are full of plastic bags. I gave everyone pretty nylon fold-up shopping bags for Christmas this year. They are really cute and are the size of a pack of cigarettes or smaller when folded and put back into their own little bag. You can even clip them onto your car keys.

big Jenn said...

this is so good1 Love it, love it, love it! jeNN

Rosaria Williams said...

This is refreshingly different. You helped me see the many uses of plastic that we so callously dismiss, forgetting that it is hard to do certain things without plastic.

Well done.

The Second Road said...

Applause!

I'm sending this on to several of my friends!

Not since American Beauty has a plastic bag been so inspirational. :)

Dianne said...

I like the angry poem,
And we actually are lucky we still have the infrastuture for trash control.
Governments in disarray have countrysides strewn with plastic bags.

Walk soon!

Akannie said...

BRAVISSIMO!!!!!

You ecogroovy bad ass poetess, you!

xoxoxoxox

One Prayer Girl said...

I am barely green, but I sure loved this poem. How creative.

PG

Syd said...

We see so much plastic on the beaches here. Last summer a whale mother ingested a plastic bag and died. Consequently, her nursing calf also died. What a sad thing because someone didn't pack up their trash.

Monkey Man said...

Recycle, recycle, recycle and reuse. Amen. It is our only hope.

Tabitha.Montgomery said...

You kick ass Chris Enchanted.
Great writing and energy!
Plastic really is a bitch as not all of it is even recyable as some people may think.There is far too much of this on earth-let's opted for alternatives whenever possible.

Happy New Year :)

Nikki (Sarah) said...

great poem..loved it. and that picture..ouch.

Kat Mortensen said...

Chris, only you could pull off an Ode to a plastic bag (and give it meaning and a message).

Shadow said...

handy little things these...

Evalinn said...

This is lovely...but also a bit scary!

Woman in a Window said...

too,
you can pool yourself
shapeshift black
and dapple duckwings
dragging us all
to our deaths.

From something so simple, to the world, i love it!
xo
erin

Beth Niquette said...

All I can say is WOW. That was magnificent!