January 6, 2020

An Original Poem by drplasticpicker

I walk from the Pier to the Protected Beach

The Protected Beach where the Surfer’s go

And beyond that Protected Beach and the Parking Lot, I travel further

until I reach the soaring cliffs of beauty and life

Sand cliffs that may crumble at any moment

Posted signs warn “Unstable Cliffs, Stay Back.”

But there are Marbled Godwits there, a flock of friends feeding

There is a black shoe sole, alone and abandoned

There is a bag of mammalian waste with an aluminum can wedged inside

There is a jagged rigid piece of white plastic, there is a small rectangle of blue

I bend over to pick up the pieces, unafraid of the cliffs

I am cleaning the cliffs, picking up bits and pieces

The cliffs may crumble. The house above may collapse. Milliions of human dollars may be lost.

But the earth will warm. Our eco-system will collapse, and generations of birds will die – if I don’t pick up the plastic.

The Marbled Godwits will eat the plastic

So I am fearless and I clean the sand

A handsome man, so handsome with a leashed mannerly dog asks, “What are you doing?”

I think of Mr. Plastic Picker, and I smile openly and say, “I am picking up Plastic for my trash art. I love the blues.”

The handsome man says, “You are doing two good things, cleaning the earth and making art?” He smiles.

I think of Mr. Plastic Picker and I smile with openness and love for the earth, my husband and this fellow human being. “It makes me happy. There are Marbled Godwits over there.” I point to the North Shore. “They are endangered shore birds with sharp needle-point black beaks.”

The man smiles kindly and walks with his leashed handsome dog to the North.

An unleashed Pekginese walks by. I think, please don’t chase the Godwits. Those Marbled Godwits are my friends.

I walk within the soaring sand cliffs, the cliffs of beauty and I walk with life.