Miasmic Ode – May 15, 2014

‘Miasmic’ Ode

Ecology is a right good thing
We’ve door to door
Pickups now:
Tuesdays and Thursdays
The bio-wastes go
Thursday the ‘un-recyclables’.
Paper and ‘Multimaterials’
Can be taken away at will
You rinse the containers out
And there’s really no smell at all.

But, oh what miasma there is,
When the un-recyclable bin is full
The bag…full of fish packages,
Dirty diapers,
Cat litter and all that stuff …
Is taken away once a week,
The mess inside just ‘matures’
From one Thursday to the next.

The bio waste bin is another …
We call it humid waste,
‘Tis where you put those things
That you didn’t or couldn’t eat …
Coffee grounds keeps down the stench
But still a stench there is …
And the special bags we use,
Leaves a wet residue.

In the winter it’s not so bad …
Summer heat is something else …
The rotting process goes all hog
And the bins begin to reek.
Ecology is a right fine thing
And I don’t mind the sacrifice …
But wish that the recyclables
Were taken away twice a week.

Problems really begin
When you have to add some waste.
You lift the lid of the bins
And gagging aroma escapes,
The kitchen fills up  with odors
That make your stomach turn …

I live in the center of town
Surrounded by other flats
I’ve no outdoors – no composting vats.
We put the waste out in the alley
And we can’t leave them out too long,
The cats have a right hay-day
When the bins are free to explore.

So, I’ll soon have a problem
The odor of summer waste
Delicate, eau de miasma
That will just fill-up the place…

Written for Pooky’s Poems – Poetry Prompt 14