The black plastic bag
flutters across the street
in the spring breeze.

Bright pink and yellow candy
wrappers bloom in the grass
that belongs to no one.

Venti cups of last night’s
mocha frappucinos
roll in the gutter with empty pens

on their way to the ocean.

—
Marianne Szlyk edits The Song Is….  Her chapbook, I Dream of Empathy, was published by Flutter Press.  She is working on another chapbook.  Her poems appear in a variety of venues including Of/with, bird’s thumb, Solidago, Figroot Press, and Cactifur.