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I went for a walk in the woods the other day
and found a large, white paper band across the trees
"Sanitized for your protection" it read
The trails had been swept free of mud and leaves
and were paved with astroturf
Insects had been eliminated and replaced
with cute googly eyed clay replicas
The trees were all trimmed and
the animals had been bathed and deodorized
Apparently too many lawsuits
over poison ivy rashes, animal bites, and twisted ankles
had nearly bankrupted the National Park Service
This way was much safer for everyone
I started to cry
and an animatronic chipmunk offered me a Kleenex
then pointed its tail toward a green trashcan
and hand sanitizer
and hand sanitizer
Laughing, I tossed the Kleenex on the astroturf and left.
submitted for dVerse Poets Pub, dVerse Poetics, Wild
13 comments:
ugh...i dont want to live in that world...what a sad place it would be...but i imagine there are such lawsuits out there...and someone with the idea that something like this might be a good thing...ugh...nice write!
I'm reminded of Joni Mitchell's "They paved paradise, and the put up a parking lot,
took all the trees, put 'em in a tree museum,
charged all the people a dollar and a half just too see 'em."
Oh yes, you've done a good thing here, putting this into the world. Use your hand sanitizer now, when finishing with this comment, as you never really know for certain if my sneeze wiggles through the ethernet on its way to mass infection, oh my.
crying might not help *sigh*
I had to laugh myself...but I think I too would have cried first.
i would 've started to cry as well..love the part with the chipmunk..smiles
Oh girl, this is priceless!
This is a sorry sight...I will also cry like you if everything is sanitized. Very nice share ~
Oh ya... who was here first... need to leave a little for them too
fantastic walk.
Like it LM--the world is such a perverse contrast, idiot-proofed to impossible artificial lengths by lawyers and dangerous as hell once you step across town, occupy something or walk into the recruiter's office.
Yee... It's coming to that, isn't it?
I should find somebody to sue because I'm getting old and I hurt all of the time.
Very clever. I, too, mourn for the paving over of the wilderness.
I heard a bizarre debate on the radio once years ago - wish I could remember who the people were. One was arguing for pushing funds into space, with an eye to living in space. The other argued for investing in Mother Earth. Naturally, I identify with the nature boy. What amazed me about the debate was that the one who envisioned living in space would not have found the world of your poem odd at all. He just didn't get that this is our home; we belong here.
Reminds me a bit of Joni Mitchell: "pave Paradise, put up a parking lot"--oh, the indifference. Thank you.
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