the garbage man

see note for reviewers.

for under 10$ an hourly wage

you too can be the lucky one

who rides around on the back of a pungent & filthy green

garbage truck for ten hours a day

hopping off and then back on at a

breakneck pace

in order to empty those large cans

filled with all the disgusting refuse that one can imagine,

but did you know about the action adventure life that comes with

this

profession?

 

the garbage man sees all

starting at 4am,

he is often greeted by inebriated women in robes

stumbling out to molest them on their lawn

even if it has begun to rain---

the garbage man needs to jump off the back of the truck

quick like a bunny

when the truck slides too far to the side of the road on hard terrain

almost hitting traffic signs

(which might very well decapitate the garbage man in question)---

the garbage man finds all of the little erotic nothings

which people throw away in their trash

but which end up tearing open in the dumping &

it isn’t hard to find out the existing realities,

those old men with porn libraries that are purged biweekly or

those couples who are trying to save their sex lives by

incorporating

sex toys &

bondage apparatuses---

he can be greeted by those who do not pay their bills & whose

garbage does not get picked up

by loud profanity,

sometimes people will even throw things at him if they are so inclined.

 

he is out there heaving your waste come rain or shine

with the garbage reeking in the hot summer sun

or with his fingers & toes freezing in the winter---

he’s tramping through the snow banks

with his hands double-gloved &

no lunch break in sight

as the truck runs on a strict time schedule---

he’s out there

doing another job that you won’t do yourself,

making less money than you &

scrubbing off the remnants with lava soap.

Author's Note

“On a human level, the garbage man is just as important as the teacher or a rock star or a president, because you have to have them. The world would have been dead a long time ago without garbage men.”

-Herbie Hancock