The cigar is chewed to nothing,
there’s earwigs on the brie,
but the dumpster’s flowin’ over
and there’s plenty here for free.

O dumpster so abundant,
O emperor of ice cream,
O mine of cans and bottles,
O source of all, supreme:

Aluminum from Jamaica,
crab from Afghanistan,
salmon from Nebraska,
caviar from Iran.

Let the moon shine down upon us
in our state of utmost glee.
Look! Cabbages and donuts
and knobs of broccoli,

and burgers barely bitten—
whole sausages intact
on chow mein noodles nesting
in mushrooms from Iraq.

Aluminum from Jamaica,
veal cutlets from Tangiers,
and from the heart of Chile,
six asparagus spears.

————

Biographically speaking, Bob Schildgen (aka “Mr. Green”) was managing editor of Sierra, the national magazine of the Sierra Club, for 8 years, and since 2005 he has been writing a popular column and blogs for them. A collection of these columns, Hey Mr. Green, was published in 2008. Woody Harrelson’s blurb on the book claimed that “Mr. Green’s cranky humor makes environmental living fun.” His poetry has appeared in The Atlanta Review; Occupoetry; Peace or Perish: A Crisis Anthology, and elsewhere. He was brought up on a farm on the west coast of Wisconsin, and migrated to Berkeley, California, some time ago.