~ examples of Bakelite (early plastic) items –
refined it’s known simply as plastic
wonderful new possibilities were foreseen
life would be more convenient with plastic
heavy packaging and storage containers
made lighter to handle with plastic
food medical clothing and more industries
would all benefit from this plastic
in the enthusiam over this amazing material
chasing miracles we imagined from plastic
no one bothered ask how we would dispose
of the many things we’d make from plastic
dismayed we’re thinking it’s not so fantastic
that our world’s becoming buried in plastic
“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is 617,000 square miles!
rob kistner © 2019
Hi! I’m Edgrrr, rob’s shih tzu.
I know its a terrible – that plastic is also destroying the the ocean. The theme is relevant and really like the choice word – plastic.
Wishing you a good weekend.
Thank you Grace! You have a great weekend also.
Bang on, brother man–love the research and the message. Like me, you did a “modern” ghazal, and it works like crazy. Somehow, we have to invent a solvent that dissolves plastic but does not poison the ocean .
Thanks Glenn. I believe the problem lies in the fact that even broken down, there remains toxicity. Like the creation of nuclear waste, plastic is just another example of the human as clever, but not smart.
UGH. Chuck Palahniuk wrote a book where the Devil sets up his base of operations on that island of plastic. 617,000 square miles?????? And more is always churning out. Go to any dollar store and see what % of it is plastic, or any Wal-Mart. I did read at the Environmental Defense Council website that, “The untold millions of tons of plastic that ends up in the sea – and in landfills – have created an absolutely huge new food source for naturally existing, and very hungry, microbes.” I’m trying to imagine how much bigger that 617k m2 would be if the microbes weren’t picking at it?
Have to check out that book out of curiosity Jade. That 617K sq mi is just that one patch. Some estimates say that, given other patches in the oceans, plus what’s in our rivers and lakes, there may be 3x to 4x that amount of floating and submerged trash in the world’s waters. Wonder what kind of aborant lifeforms may someday be crawling out of the oceans.
Spot on!
Thznk you Rosemary! 🙂
And that is the gist of it, “no one bothered ask how we would dispose”. Well said. There’s no denying that plastic has its use, but we could still manage without it.
Thank you Khaya! I have said many times, humans are clever, just not very smart at times.
That Pacific garbage pile is obscene. We humans are like a pestilence upon the earth with our plastic plastic. The word plastic even looks plastic. But your ghazal is not plastic, it is very real and vital and important. We get lax in our mundane daily lives and need to be reminded daily of our plastic in the ocean. Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome Deborah! The task o turning ths landslide of deadly plastic around seems daunting, but like snything else. Hope comes in the actions of each individual, if you are concerned, find away to minimize your pedonal contibution. No other way around it. Thank you for being concrnec, even if only for a moment, the moment may cause a shift in your actions?
My day job is running a nonprofit that applies green chemistry and engineering to deal with unsustainable and dangerous chemicals and products that impact human and environmental health. More than 85,000 chemicals on the market have little to no safety data available. By the time we take action on most of these issues we are decades too late. Right now we are working on addressing plastics in SE Asia with the UNDP. It is a problem worthy of everyone’s attention. Thank you for using your poetry to speak up.
Good on you Anna, congratulations on your wonderful committment to help make a difference in this world – bravo bravo!! I am appalled by the gross lack of responsibility, or any apparent sense of understanding regarding the destruction being done to this precious earth. And it is certainly not just individuals but it’s the leadership of nations. Obviously most business leaders care far more about the bottom line on their P&L sheets, so they don’t give a shit – unless it costs them profit. It feels so hopeless sometimes, but again, kudos to you for caring!
A thoughtful modern ghazal on a timely topic, Rob.
Thank you Lynn. 🙂
Yes, the sentiment is not lost here. You and Glenn have made the “modern ghazal” a protest poem form. I choose to think it might be a sort of drinking song or something akin to that. It is a long way from a love poem but it’s pretty good nonetheless!
Mine is a love poem to the planet Gay…
Even the word sounds like it will never go away.
How many more “miracles” will we regret?
I try not to think about it beyond plastic, nuclear energy, and nanotech – those are more than enough to wipe us out Kerfe.