20160711 (gone)

Obviously NOT my garbage which would be neatly covered - I yam such a goodie-two shoes

Didn’t even know I had that.

Amazing what you find when

You discard files you don’t want

To truck across America: an

Erotic poem (not written by me

But I won’t say whom); letters

Requesting to deplete funds

For retirement (how foolish was

Each of them, yet at the time it

Looked necessary); pay records

From working for the U. S.

Census (it appears I cost the 

Government close to a dollar

For every item I recorded); copies

Of bills for extraordinarily 

Careless work injuries (getting

A finger almost chopped off in

The hinge of a dumpster); 

Records showing I joined the

Teamsters when I worked at 

An automobile show at the I-X

Center (fees to the union absorbed

Three days’ work); and I haven’t

Begun dumping files from my time

As a substitute teacher for the 

Cleveland Municipal School

District (under Barbara Byrd 

Bennett, whom we learned later

Was as corrupt as they get).

I will have no need of these

Things in Olympia just as if

I had my wits about me I haven’t

Needed them the last ten years.

Putting aside the dream of saving

This classic I had the pleasure 

To own for ten years will free up

The time I need to read untouched

Volumes I have been promising

Myself. And if I fall asleep? I’ll

Wake up again and continue 

Reading. I think my days of 

Marching to register distress are

Done. If I need to voice an 

Opinion on some topic there

Will always be the blog, and

Writing the people directly

Who have brought on the tumult.

For all my radical talk I’m no

Screamer on the street corners

As throngs go by to the air 

Show. I’ve done that as well

As bull-horning my discontent

To a Market Square empty but

For my comrades. I’ve stopped

Picking up the trash as I walk 

Loki to the park and you can 

Tell as the trail gets notably

Worse daily. I’m still taking

Stuff to be recycled or giving

It away if no one buys it. Soon

If things aren’t sold they’ll be 

Left out on the tree lawn, the

Five finger discount house that

Has served Ohio Citians so well

Over the years. The wood I had 

Neatly packed in liquor boxes

Was being thrown into the trash

Bin by the sanitation worker and

I had to stop him, “No, that’s there

For people who want free firewood.”

An era of my life is ending—totally

OK if the markers get undone.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016