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Note
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Litterbug
I
thought it high time, since rubbish is more common in cityscapes than
buttercups and daisies, that litter got treated as honourable additions
to flora and fauna. How many litterbug poems I shall write I can’t
say. Most of my sequences don’t get past the second item. Here’s the
first, about those four plastic O’s which grip the tops of the beer
cans into a fourpack. This loopy, plastic creature, when discarded,
climbs up at night to cling to a window, where it will foil any burglar
who tries to gain entry by cutting circular holes in the glass. If this
poem sounds like an Anglo-Saxon riddle that’s not accidental. And the
Fourpack Rimholder is itself behind the times; not many burglars these
days bother to cut through windows with special tools; a brick is the
style.
Alan
Marshfield
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