I want to be better about saving the planet.
Stop ordering from Amazon, and if I have to,
choose only eco-friendly shipping. Don’t buy
advertised tops and jeans — what do they call it?
Fast fashion? Wear pilled sweaters from the thrift shop,
select dresses that still have the tags, yoga pants
donated by someone else with good intentions,
be proud for getting a good deal. I want to recycle everything:
junk mail, olive jars, plastic shopping bags from Food Lion,
pizza boxes, crusts of homemade bread I make from locally
sourced, organic wheat (I can turn it into croutons), waste not,
want not, do no harm, never use a one-use bottle. I want to
be able to pat myself on the back for picking up someone’s
trash, for not spending energy on spell check, return to pen
and paper, and for that matter, make my own paper
from fallen trees, use quills from the feathers the Blue Jays
drop at the feeder. They eat seeds that collect in my garden
of native plants. Bully the finches. Scatter shells everywhere,
demanding I clean it all up. How exhausting it is to live.
Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt
V1 April 26, 2026
Author's Note: Here's one where I know what I'm trying to express, but it lacks poetics. I'll come back to it.
