Dumping Ground

Why not revamp the pristine earth
to incorporate plastic containers,
the forest to gleam
with empty beer cans,
the streams to bubble
with the myriad colors
of factory runoff.

It’s a whole new country.
Gulls immigrate from the shoreline.
Pigeons are in their glory.
The rats are raising flags.
And none of them are white ones.

So what if some old poet
eulogizes what once was.
Let’s celebrate the way,
in this disposable new world,
we make more and more
of everything.

Junk is the Rockies version 2.0.
Stink is the new perfume.
The air’s like a cigarette
on a giant scale.
Puff away.
Your lungs are the perfect ashtray.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in New World Writing, North Dakota Quarterly and Dissident Voice. Latest books, ”Between Two Fires”, “Covert” and “Memory Outside The Head” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in California Quarterly, Birmingham Arts Journal, La Presa and Shot Glass Journal. Read other articles by John.