BUT FIRST...Here's a poem I once wrote about Litter and Litter Pickers...Despite finding roadside guns (no, really) and porno, I never made any CASH from the TRASH. Although there were those VW Bug MOON HUBCAPS...
In my history of odd jobs taken to sustain my creative life, being a Department of Ecology Litter Crew Supervisor ranks as a lifetime BEST JOB for WRITERS e-v-e-r...A creative writer's life is at every level a solo journey. You can work on your great or not so great American novel for two years only to have it sit oin a shlef in a notebook...Ah, but what great shelves you say...
As a litterpicker (make that 'Supervisor', please) I was able on an hourly basis to SEE my accomplishments; get exercise; didn't talk all day (as opposed to my classroom teaching avocations); was able to listen to truly amazing stories (of Juveniles D's and Community Service offenders complete with accents/dialects, then went home and wrote my own stuff with voices still in my head (good to hear some new voices)...Yes, it was a Great job, however, Prise Geebus that I am not still trudging along I-5 in the rain...Here's that poem:
Litterpickers go out at dawn
quietly they slip by your lawn
Thin men and women without sound
They walk slow
bent low to the ground
passing over pheasant
deerskin and rats
sleeping men under bridges
cobwebs and bats
They gather man's sign
the stink of man unkind
They fill bags
the size of whales
They sing the song of nightingales
Litterpickers march
like Trojans to war
and for them
the work is hardly a chore
Clearing a path trod with oily shoe
on a journey
sadly sought by few
Acid heartburn indigestion
the toll on the body
is not in question
Onward and upward
through sun and rain
our lives are made cleaner
by their pain
Litterpickers bend and scrape
from trash there is no escape
Litterpickers watch
as you drive by
You so eager to make
those bottles fly
with windows open to spring
My god it's so easy
I can throw anything
Litterpickers have packrat minds all
They often save things
short and tall
like faded greenbacks
and fancy hubs
You'd be surprised
by what lies in shrubs
Litterpickers creep toward the trees
as noonday sun
brings them to their knees
Litterpickers litterpickers
three bags full
yes sir yes sir
it's all recyclable
Litterpickers litterpickers
watch 'em dance
smiles on their faces
they watch out for ants
Litterpickers litterpickers
like Buddhas on the road
chanting Hari Krishna Ramigate
don't step on a toad
Litterpickers litterpickers
lungs full of monoxide
it's a job that pick pick picks
at your pride
Coca-Cola Fanta Sprite
styrofoam and Rainier Light
picking up cans all day
litterpickers dream of trash at night
© 1984,2011
Jeff Hartzer
NOW, that you've picked up some trash, here's that GREAT video from You Tube...Enjoy.
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