Litter
Plastic straws
Paper cups
Fast food boxes
Sauce packets
Soda tabs
Cigarette butts
Aluminum cans
All in the park gazebo
All left behind
Some items are new
People always leave cans at the top of the steps
Today, it’s a yellow arizona can
Arizona cans are always left behind
They’re usually gone by the end of the week
Some have been here for years
Buried in piles of broken-down leaves, dirt, and pollen pods
There’s a thick plastic tube that’s been here for years
I can’t tell if the fast-food box in the corner is new or old
But there’s always one here
Cigarette butts are always scattered around the park
Just behind where I’m sitting, I can count four
One of them looks vintage
For all the times they repaired and cleaned this area
The trash remains
It’s a part of the gazebo
It’s a part of this park
I remember when the fountain was first closed down
The inside was full of litter and dead leafs
So much that the drains clogged
It took years to repair
The pond has always been dirty
Murky
You can never see the bottom despite how shallow it is
I remember when there were turtles in the pond
They’re all gone now
At the bases of trees, you’re sure to find more litter
They remove the nests from the trees
They cut down branches
But they almost never take all the trash
Trash is a part of the park
It’s ingrained into its DNA
As I was writing this, a paper straw cover whacked me in the face before flying off with the wind
Said wind picked up the fast food box and tossed it across the gazebo
Even the wind wants the trash gone
I think it’s time for me to leave
