It should have been a
requirement for all classes,
some way or other:
English: "Write about
Anacostia clean-up
day. Describe your haul."
sunshine on shoulders
glimmering on the water
gleam of metal cans
(Photo from Experience Prince Georges)
Math 1: "Average weights
of everybody's clean-up
day hauls. Compare months."
the paddle eases
the plastic bag's handles off
the cottonwood branch
Math 2: "Calculate
if estimates are correct,
how much trash escaped."
if one canoe tows
the shopping cart on a chain
and others' paddles
push it from behind,
can they land it on the bank
without getting wet?
Nursing Assistants:
"Describe hygiene procedures
used on clean-up day."
Hector found a bright
ball between tree roots; it bounced;
his kid dived and swam
sick two days; still alive
tough kid, takes after Papi
who felt worse than he
Bulding Maintenance:
"List sanitary measures
your buildings must use."
bright unnatural colors
flowing over the bike trail
where two dead trout float
Remedial work
for adult education
for social reasons:
"Sketch and discuss cool
looks for protective gear kids
wear on clean-up day."
Giselle made a date
in tight wet T-shirt; now how
to erase skin rash?
Office Assistants:
"Design posters explaining
why 'catch-and-release.'"
heron glares, stands ground
kayak scrapes smelly sandbar
there must be a nest
College-bound students:
"Draft legislation that will
address pollution."
however many
bags of trash you haul in, it's
tip of the iceberg
plastic is real,
chokes fish and birds, but you know
chemicals kill more
(My husband and I lived near enough to the Anacostia River, around the turn of the century, to share many pleasant, romantic memories of happy afternoons fishing garbage out of the historic scenery...and seeing up close that garbage is the least of the Anacostia River's problems. We didn't have the freedom to make this part of any classes either of us taught or tutored. Very few students actually participated. The river cleaners who took foolish risks were townsfolk, not students. But I think it would be a good thing if regular river cleaning were a requirement for graduation or GED in the DC schools...with adequate, fair warnings.)
(Though it's counting here for 1.12.24, this is a new bit of Bad Poetry provoked by the Dverse prompt from 2.7.24: https://dversepoets.com/2024/02/06/poetics-sail-into-a-poem/ . Lots of poems will be linked there.)
A very clever take on the prompt. I enjoyed the comments/reactions by students and others. We could use several days of river cleaning around here, too. Thank you for writing to the prompt!
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting and commenting!
DeleteI am sad that cleaning is even needed... I see very little trash in rivers and streams were I live.
ReplyDeleteWhere I now live, in the mountains, the rivers are relatively clean (except after very heavy rain). The confluence of Anacostia and Potomac rivers in Washington DC is closer to the coast, and both rivers pick up large amounts of trash--often hundreds of miles from its origin. But what used to get to people, as we fished for relatively harmless old shoes and shopping carts, were streams of chemical effluents coming from big apartment and office towers. How was that kind of thing ever allowed? Money talked, of course. People who deeply hated Trump were often people who identified him with that kind of thing.
Delete(Google is pretending not to recognize me because they want authorization to clog Chrome with more "cookies." Bah humbug.)
DeletePK
Cleverly constructed take on the prompt, and so sad what's happening to our rivers and streams.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the format of your poem but it is tragic that we don't care enough about our water bodies.
ReplyDeleteA clever imagining of how to weave environmental education through the school curriculum. Yes - how was such pollution ever allowed to thrive...
ReplyDeleteWow, this is really powerful. I love the device of creating a curriculum to be able to touch on so many aspects of the polluted river, polluted by humans. Thanks for your activism through poetry.
ReplyDeleteYes, a writing exercise in our being lax on the steward of our Earth job should be required. Like you, make it match the type class being taken. That way a fifteen credit load would require probably five DIVERENT research paper. Start with you poem.
ReplyDelete..
Sorry, make them do a spell check also.
Delete..
Yes!
DeletePK