I casually flush my toilet in Chicago,
\nwater rushes through the lateral sewer
\nof my abode to join storm water
\nfrom rain or snow that flow
\ninto the intercepting sewer below,<\/p>\n
to the deep tunnel 300 feet underground
\nmaking a long, sometimes 100-mile circuitous journey
\nto water reclamation plants
\nat the lakefront, Stickney, or South Pulaski,
\nor pour into the huge reservoir at O\u2019Hare or McCook,<\/p>\n
to eventually become fresher than fresh water,
\nbut every once in a while there\u2019s suddenly too much
\nrainwater, laundry water, bubble bathtub water,
\ntoilet water, dishwasher water, rat sweat, bird droppings,
\nvomit, lawn-watering, stockpots full of pasta water,<\/p>\n
half-full bottles of Coke or kombucha thrown away,
\nnail polish remover, flat beer, cooking grease,
\npsychotropics, antidepressants, antibiotics,
\ntampons, condoms and cigarette butts, cascading
\nat once down sewers that can only drain<\/p>\n
so quickly, making unctuous spreads on basement floors,
\nsending its rawness into the Chicago River, Des Plaines River,
\nIllinois River, the high and mighty fecal Mississippi,
\nshooting down stray and illegal pipes to intersect Alien tunnels,
\nrailroads and bunkers deep within the earth<\/p>\n
showering the Greys and Reptilians
\nin a soft spray of human effluents,
\nthe cleanup charged to black budgets,
\ntax dollars skimmed through the Pentagon,
\nor from sudden corrections to the stock market,<\/p>\n
sending America, the whole world into financial tizzy,
\nheaving banks upside down
\nlike a million backed-up toilets,
\nforcing millions to drown in debt
\nas deep as waste materials in the sewers themselves,<\/p>\n
governments pin the blame on the masses,
\nSaying you did it to yourselves,
\nyou take toilet flushing for granted,
\ngo ahead y\u2019all, flush your toilets,
\nbut don\u2019t forget to vote,<\/p>\n
because only we can clean it up,
\nonly we can bring clean sewers back to America,
\nto Chicago, but they will still be sewers
\nnonetheless, looping underground where you can\u2019t see
\nas we reset and start the circuit over again.<\/p>\n
but go ahead, right now,
\nwhile we\u2019re on the subject,
\nwalk into the washroom,
\nthrow down the lid,
\njiggle the handle,<\/p>\n
think about what you might do
\nto the world
\nwith just one flush,
\nknow what it feels like
\nas we do
\nevery day
\nto keep one sly, sick, shitty finger
\non the nuclear button.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I slowly spin it like a ferris wheel<\/p>\n
our coffee grinds and eggshells,
\ncucumber peels and avocado skins,
\nlimp celery chunkily chopped,
\ngrass clippings, dried leaves,
\ndill stalks and parsley stems
\ndryer link, corn cobs, paper towels<\/p>\n
thrown in to break down in months, even weeks
\nto waste, rot, unravel and release
\na quick legislation that amends and upholds
\nthe backyard garden<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not an alderman, or a mighty alder,
\njust a worker, a compost carny,
\nwho straps them in as scraps
\nlets them sail around a few times
\nthen bids them \u201cThank you very mulch\u201d
\nas they hit the exit ramp
\nas carbon- and nitrogen-rich soil,
\na hot summer joy ride of wetness, corruption and rotation.<\/p>\n
in these moments I imitate the earth, that magician
\nwho cracks two eggs into his
\ntop hat and throws the shells
\nin for good luck,
\ncovers it with the white silk scarf of winter,
\nthen whisks it away
\nto pull out a bouquet of spring flowers.<\/p>\n
the earth revolves,
\nembraces green, gold, scarlet and brown,
\nspent plants, cracked rocks, animal waste
\nand bones of our ancestors,
\nthat fall into its massive arms
\nto whirl and self-heal,
\nwith leftovers that hold the earth together.<\/p>\n
we can only mimic this calling
\nin teeny, tiny ways with our composters
\nto feed hungry, postage-stamp gardens
\nlike this one in Chicago,
\nwhich swallow compost by the shovelsful
\nand resurrect it into life-giving, prolific vegetables
\nwith future compost scraps of their own.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
CYNTHIA GALLAHER<\/strong>, a Chicago-based poet and playwright, is author of four poetry collections, including the forthcoming Epicurean Ecstasy: More Poems\u00a0About\u00a0Food, Drink, Herbs and Spices<\/em> (The Poetry Box<\/a>,\u00a0Portland, 2019) and three chapbooks, including the forthcoming Drenched<\/em> (Main Street Rag<\/a>, Charlotte, N.C., 2018). The Chicago Public Library lists her among its \u201cTop Ten Requested Chicago Poets.\u201d Follow her on Twitter @swimmerpoet<\/a>, her Facebook page @frugalpoets<\/a> and her website: http:\/\/bit.ly\/swimmerpoet<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chicago Sewers I casually flush my toilet in Chicago, water rushes through the lateral sewer of my abode to join storm water from rain or snow that flow into the intercepting sewer below, to the deep tunnel 300 feet underground… Continue Reading
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