Waste Not

Rivers of
garbage
run down to
a sea
drowning
in plastic bags


It's an island you could walk on,
but not if you're a fish.
An island you could
place in an engine
and drive
around the world

but first you have to smash through
the barriers
of discarding what you see,
to discover
what you want

and how to get there

For who are we to
mine for gold in
uranium
mine for uranium
in rock

Everything we need
runs through our fingers.
All we have to do is
reach out
and take what is ours
to protect
what is not

A.J. Ponder

Some more links to go with the ones I put up a couple of weeks ago on "Working Towards Waste Not", where I posted a video of Bill Gates drinking - shock! horror! water!! And there are a few more links about recycling waste including companies "mining" gold and other precious metals in sewerage.

Gold and uranium mining. Believe it or not gold and uranium are often mined hand in hand, although not so long ago, uranium, was usually left in the tailings. So maybe someone should have asked Bill Gates if he'd rather drink recycled sewerage or uranium? http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/dec/05/nuclear-greenpolitics. 
 
Turning plastic bags into diesel fuel?  When? And yes, maybe we shouldn't be using them at all, but it's a bit late for that so... http://news.illinois.edu/news/14/0212bags_oil_brajendrakumarsharma.html

Have a great week,
A.J.

P.S.  I'm not sure I can manage to live waste free like these people, but it's a great goal, and one we should be working toward as a community :)
http://www.zerowaste.co.nz/
http://www.recycle.co.nz/problemsize.php
http://www.rubbishfree.co.nz/ 

And lastly...This...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/01/hawaii-plastic-bag-ban_n_7702382.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000010   (if you're not sure why they've done it, scroll down for the surfer)

Have a Nice Day by Spike Milligan

Obviously the poem -  Have a Nice Day- is still in copyright, so instead of posting it here are a number of links,

video https://vimeo.com/96133058
Poetry site http://allpoetry.com/Have-A-Nice-day

Have a Nice Day starts...
'Help, help, ' said a man. 'I'm drowning.'
'Hang on, ' said a man from the shore.
'Help, help, ' said the man. 'I'm not clowning.'
'Yes, I know, I heard you before...
...

Spike Milligan

Spike Milligan is one of the people in this world who was happy to turn his hand to anything, television, writing, poetry, all with an endearing gusto and often biting black humour. He had severe bipolar disorder,

"I have got so low that I have asked to be hospitalised and for deep narcosis (sleep). I cannot stand being awake. The pain is too much ... Something has happened to me, this vital spark has stopped burning – I go to a dinner table now and I don't say a word, just sit there like a dodo. Normally I am the centre of attention, keep the conversation going – so that is depressing in itself. It's like another person taking over, very strange. The most important thing I say is 'good evening' and then I go quiet.^"

 ^{Why I chose this poem even though I couldn't actually post it..}

Even without Spike Milligan's history it's pretty obvious the absent Dr Browning is no bit-player in this poem - but in the face of death and disaster the protagonist says he's had a very nice day. The stiff upper lip, ubiquitous phrases that permeate modern (and not so modern) life, "have a nice day" "how are you/I'm well" "good evening" where nobody says it like it is. So yes, I really enjoyed it, as it hit the spot on the complain-o-meter without actually complaining ;)

So that's it for this week, a total cheat, and remember not to have maybe not a nice day, but a fantastic week! Hopefully will be up for a poem by then.

A.J.