Putting out the bins

Putting out the bins

At last it's the 1st of the month and I can start my time shifted NaPoWriMo challenge: chose an unusual action as a metaphor for your life. Such profundity has proven a bit hard, and I've dodged the bit about it being a metaphor for life,  but here's where the prompt took me this morning as I sat,  awake earlier than usual,  listening to the bin lorry outside.


Every other Thursday
Our pavement fills with bins and boxes,
Piles of unwanted cardboard -
Recycling day.

We've sorted out our waste
The packaging once vital, no longer needed:
Cardboard that protected,
Paper that informed,
Plastic that held liquids,
Aluminium cans that once held food,
The bins too large for what we've gathered.
Each week's collection,  this unseen service,
Taken for granted, expected, unacknowledged.

This week the bin is a conduit,
Recognition of the risks the bin men take
Each time they lift our waste
Not knowing who has placed what inside.
Their normal job more hazardous
Now the virus may lurk for days,
Hidden but deadly, on each hard surface.

Our simple message reads -
"Thank you".


© Copyright 2020. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved


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