I weep for the animals
Not the squirrels and the dogs and the cats
Stampeded flat in the roadway
Run over so many times
That there’s precious little
For even the crows to pick at
No, I’ve grown used to that
Business is business
And our cars are our lifeblood
I’ve got to get to work for Christ’s sake
It’s a sea turtle
Choking on a plastic bag
It’s ubiquitous plastic
In our oceans and littering the beaches
Pop lids and six pack rings and straws
And go cups and Styrofoam coolers
Old toys, degraded
Car parts and computer parts
Bread ties and old tires
The list goes on ad infinitum
Baked into the bread of our existence
Making our lives more convenient
It has overflowed from our kitchens
And our Christmases
Now there is plastic
Miles wide patches of the stuff
In all the world’s oceans
Critters of all kinds mistake
Tiny particles for food
For baby jelly fish
Or some other
Translucent creature
Indigestible plastic; sippy cups
And super pooper scoopers
And too small waders
As though a comet made of plastic
Crashed into our planet
And blew the stuff
All over the place
I weep for the people who
Will live in the time when the ocean
Finally goes toxic
From the carbon saturation and
The rising temperatures that are wiping out
Corals world-wide, and of course, the
Epidemic of plastic
So, I laugh and I dance
And I smile real nice
But deep inside I cry
I weep for the animals
So many headed for extinction
While I bitch and moan
About the price
Of a gallon of gas
