Ode to the Garbage Can

My mother was telling me that at the time of the Prophet salallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, everybody praised and cursed each other through poetry. I guess that’s why all of the AlMaghribies make announcements in poetry, reply in poetry, and diss in poetry. It’s lovely. I’ve always thought that this method of conversing was so cool, and I’ve been wanting to try it out for a while now. Unfortunately, I haven’t been blessed with the same eloquence that these gifted geniuses have. But as I have learned from the poetry unit in my English class, you don’t need to be gifted or have eloquence to write poetry; you just need it to sound pretty, even if the poem is about a toad getting mangled by a lawn mower. No, seriously, I had to do a whole essay about the symbolism in this toad-guts-spilling-everywhere poem. It was mind wrenching. Anywhoo, I have decided to begin my own collection of bogus poetry so that one day I will become famous for my work. If have the poets in my English book did it, so can I.

Ode to the Garbage Can

Poor, disgruntled garbage can.
As I sit in my desk and look at you,
I realize there’s nothing you can do.
You bleakly stand there all alone
While passerbies give no care to the glory you have shone.
They insult you with looks of disgust
Without acknowledging the responsibilities you entrust.
Mockery aside, you are the chosen one.
Unlike these arrogant humans, you do what must be done.
You hold their trash, filth and all
As they give you their cold shoulder, standing so tall.

Please, garbage can, do not dismay.
For one day these people will say,
“Oh, how admirable and worthy you are.”
Praising you for the work you have done so far.
They will see how much pain you have gone through,
And they will be ashamed that they did not help you.

So dear garbage can, for you this is my ode
It’s definitely better than crying over some dead toad.