…is how much plastic waste was generated in the US in 2021, according to a report in the Guardian. Where does it go? Not “away”, since on Finite Earth, there is no “away”. These particular bits of plastic waste were perversely diverted from the trash by my late aunt, who was loath to throw out anything that might be reused. Her pin-neat apartment concealed hundreds of ancient odds and ends. But bread bag clips? Hundreds of them? Equally perversely, when I came across them, I decided to keep them, mostly as a cautionary tale of eccentricity.
Years later, I have found a use for them…
… a new assemblage and new poem is in the works, equal parts statement, question, hope.