Planet Fucked

I can accept conspiracy theories

and crazed theorists

I can accept that wars happen

you give something up on the way there but

there’s always dark truth in the path forward

I can accept storms and madness

even rampant consumerism

and people living on portable phones

but

what I can’t accept is when the sea spits out

an ocean of poison

of plastic

all over the beach

in a wildlife preserve no less

all kinds of random crap

a sandal

a condom

a wiffle ball

broken pieces of medical devices

and bottles and caps and tubes and packaging and parts

shred from god knows what

and thousands upon thousands

tiny pieces

of styrofoam

has anything worse ever been created?

100 people

could have worked all day on this stretch of sand

trying to gather up this man-made curse

but that wouldn’t have been enough

there are times when you think the planet

is headed for a fall

they happen and you try to let them go

but this was something else

this was evidence of something gone terribly wrong

the ocean is full of plastic

which means fish and birds can’t be far behind

I stood on the beach and thought about the plight of the fish

somewhere out in the miles of water before me

and thought

my god

it’s over