Poetry

When the World is Our Garbage Can: A Poem

shellypruittjohnson

This poem was inspired by an actual event I witnessed the other day.

“When the World is Our Garbage Can”

And just as I drove by
The speeding truck,
He threw his plastic slurpy cup
Out the window
And it landed on the street, 
Red sugar chemicals gashing
Across the pavement,
Like the world was his garbage can
And would take what he gave it.

And I thought about how often
We treat the world, ourselves,
Each other,
As our garbage can,
At which we fling our
Crap.
What would it be like
If we treated the whole world,
As our Beloved, our Treasure,
Our Joy,
Our Beautiful Garden to tend?
I will start today.

~Sj, 2018

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Published by shellypruittjohnson

My name is Shelly Johnson, and I am a writer and philosopher with a Ph.D. in philosophy. One of my primary personal and philosophical interests is how we can learn to love ourselves and each other better in order to cultivate personal and political resilience. I teach ethics and a variety of other courses at a local college. I am the author of the blog Love is Stronger. I am also the author of three logic and critical thinking books for high school and middle school: _Argument Builder_, _Discovery of Deduction_ (co-author), and _Everyday Debate_, published by Classical Academic Press. You can reach me at shellypruittjohnson@gmail.com.

6 thoughts on “When the World is Our Garbage Can: A Poem”

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