Garbage

A.R. Ammons' book of poems Garbage was a National Book Award finalist in 1993. Here are a few lines that play with the semiotics of garbage:

Garbage has to be the poem of our time because
garbage is spiritual, believable enough

to get our attention, getting in the way, piling
up, stinking, turning brooks brownish and

creamy white: what else deflects us from the
errors of our illusionary ways...

possibilites already here, this where we came
to and how we came: a priestly director behind the

black-chuffing dozer leans the gleanings and
reads the birds, millions of loners circling

a common height, alighting to the meaty streaks
and puffy muffins(puffins?): there is a mound,

too, in the poet's mind dead language is hauled
off to and burned down on, the energy held and

shaped into new turns and clusters, the mind
strenghthened by what it strengthens...


On another note:
We had friends over last night and after a great feast of halibut, salmon and tiramisu, we discussed ways to conserve. The topic shifted to some critical questions: Why can't anyone advise a way to convert an old slab foundation into a radiant heat system that holds heat? What exactly are wind credits? And where is the $15 going for the wind credits I bought this week at Whole Foods to offset our carbon footprint? The point is not to be negative, but rather to be critical so that all the great ideas and momentum that are coalescing around environmental and energy issues translate into sustainable programs and products.