By Bob Dougherty
There’s purpose and order,
every type of thing has an area,
electronics, plumbing, old paint…
people moving stuff all over the place,
yet, for all the activity it’s really quite clean.
What’s striking is the eerie feeling of entropy;
this is the place old junk ends up no one wants.
The efficiency of the end is like Costco in reverse,
people bring their things in pay leave with nothing.
A Tyrannosaurus machine devours once treasured items
and spits its splintered spew onto a conveyor to nowhere.
I push my pile into the pit and move back — feeling faint regret.
Was I too hasty?
When I go to the recycler I always hope life is much more
than just carrying things from Costco to the recycler.
The average trip for my stuff is maybe ten years.
Strangely, at the recycler, I always picture
when my junk was new and I younger.
At Costco, I never picture
purchases — as old
and I older.
In some ways, I guess I’m a tool of entropy,
I buy goods use them up discard junk.
If the trip takes longer, that’s good,
if I get good memories, great,
but someday — I sense
entropy will get even
the memories.
There’s purpose and order,
every type of thing has an area,
electronics, plumbing, old paint…
people moving stuff all over the place,
yet, for all the activity it’s really quite clean.
What’s striking is the eerie feeling of entropy;
this is the place old junk ends up no one wants.
The efficiency of the end is like Costco in reverse,
people bring their things in pay leave with nothing.
A Tyrannosaurus machine devours once treasured items
and spits its splintered spew onto a conveyor to nowhere.
I push my pile into the pit and move back — feeling faint regret.
Was I too hasty?
When I go to the recycler I always hope life is much more
than just carrying things from Costco to the recycler.
The average trip for my stuff is maybe ten years.
Strangely, at the recycler, I always picture
when my junk was new and I younger.
At Costco, I never picture
purchases — as old
and I older.
In some ways, I guess I’m a tool of entropy,
I buy goods use them up discard junk.
If the trip takes longer, that’s good,
if I get good memories, great,
but someday — I sense
entropy will get even
the memories.