Cans, bottles, plastic bags,
bras, panties, socks, boots and shoes,
tires, magazines, newspapers,
inhalers, pill bottles, condoms,
a stained note to “Tom”
not one of our crew would read
who hadn’t once, at least,
discovered its sort,
whose life hadn’t been tossed
summarily to a road ditch.

____
Darrell Petska’s poetry has appeared in Muddy River Poetry Review, Chiron Review, Star 82 Review, Verse-Virtual and widely elsewhere (see: conservancies.wordpress.com.) Darrell has tallied a third of a century as communications editor for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 40 years as a father (six years as a grandfather,) and almost a half century as a husband. He lives outside Madison, Wisconsin.

Photography by William J. Stribling