Saved From the Landfill

What would happen is this…

That straw, that was unwrapped from a paper wrapper
and unboxed from a box,
unloaded from a truck that drove from the docks
where a ship had carried it from faraway lands
or a railcar had chugged through the once pristine sands
of the Gulf Coast-
Home of the US Petrochemical Industry
and the petrochemical-contaminated fisheries
and the cancers that carry misery
on the waters of the once great Gulf Coast-

that straw, that was made from gas
(that treasured substance from our ancient past)
and through clever methods developed by clever men,
strung together in molecules, becoming a resin
that’s plasticized, colorized, fillerized and stabilized-
off-gassing and weeping wastewater throughout-

that straw, that was going to end up in your drink for just a moment-so that you could grab it, give your drink a swirl, then pull it out and toss it aside where it would lay
until the waitstaff came to clear it away
and dump it in the trash -
to go where?
buried in the ground for millions of years
or burned for energy
a pointless, poisonous career -

that straw would no longer be needed.

And with millions of people demanding ” No Plastic Straws, Please!”-
the factories would stop making them and the fisheries
would recover.

Slowly perhaps, but with your help they will- and the rails will carry merrymakers seeking a day’s thrill down on the Gulf Coast.

And those ships from faraway lands
that brought us plastic poisons in brightly colored bands- well, let’s just ask them to stay away, please-and not to return until they have something truly special-like some nice oolong teas.

And the trucks that rumbled from the docks at the port- well, we’ll change over to wagons and make it a sport: ox-racing!

And the forests will return- soon you shall see-
when we stop wrapping straws in all of our trees.

And the air will blow cleaner, and the waters will run pure

And all this will happen from this one simple cure.

And is that not reason to celebrate?
Let’s drink to that -and No Plastic Straw, Please!