Image: Ana Mendieta – Silueta de Cohetes (1976)

John Bartlett lives on the southern coast of Australia and is the author of three novels, a collection of short stories and an e-book collection of his non-fiction. His poetry has been published in a number of online journals. He blogs regularly at: http://beyondtheestuary.com/

Plastic World

It hardly matters
there’s a cellophane wrapper
or a plastic bag or two
blowing along the street,
plastic clouds filling up the sky
and blue-grey plastic light
covering the world in non-recyclable mist.
The world is turning plastic.
It hardly matters
there’s a plastic bottle or two
or two hundred billion
rattling down the roads
clogging up the world
and the whales are wearing plastic
this summer on their heads
The world is turning plastic
It hardly matters
the beach is sprouting
hypodermic needles
It hardly matters now.
The world is turning plastic.
Hardly.