20160325 (habits)

Not my sign but it will do.

You know by now I pick up 

Aluminum cans I find along 

The way. I used to pick up 

Practically all types of trash—

Steel cans, plastic bottles, 

Paper. When I’d get home 

I’d separate, recycle the plastic

Bottles through the Cleveland

Recycling container (one of my 

Two garbage receptacles), 

Take metals to a recycler 

For cash. Periodically I pick 

Stuff up if I’m headed toward

A trash can at the library, park, 

Supermarket so anyone 

Following my path doesn’t

Encounter a sullied

Environment. I’ve concluded

Neighborhoods that are trashy

Are Trashy Neighborhoods 

Whether they’re in the city,

Suburbs, or rural areas. I refer

To the notion as Pride of Place

My banner for what I otherwise

Promote as “making your Paris 

Where you are,” though that

May be a tad off as the real 

Paris has trash and many other

Things unsuitable for my locus.

There’s no location that doesn’t

Look better when the trash is

Elsewhere—subway platforms,

Flowers shops, my/your front

Lawn/porch. I tried to cajole

Some of that spirit to my Ohio

City crowd by framing a program

Ordered around increasing the

Sale value of the homes simply

By rigorous and repeated removal

Of the stuff blowing free in the

Streets to rest in bushes and 

Front yards of the populace.

Needless to say few responded

Positively—often citing my

Personal condition (OCD) as

The real reason I plunk

For neatness. "Can’t be

Bothered—not that bad—you

Want it, you pick it up—we

Won’t stop you—we’ve got a

Life, thank you." The ones who

Can’t be bothered will spend

Thousands to move to a better

Place only to see the bad habit

Attend them in Brecksville,

Shaker, Rocky River, and 

Kirtland. I’ve seen firm and fit

Joggers at Horseshoe Lake 

Tuck their empty water bottles

Near trees rather than cart them

Back to their car. As for the not-

that-bad crowd where do 

You draw the line? Some folks

Have a much looser criterion

Than you. As for those who

Look down their noses at me,

A neat freak, and consider me

Bonkers, it’s because of efforts

Of people like us, they didn’t

See the candy wrapper or empty

Cheetos bag in the first place.

So what if I chalk up my motive

To a bit of unshared eccentricity?

The place is cleaner and I haven’t

Hurt you one bit, no?

c. J.S.Manista, 2016