My recent writing activities included a poem about a plastic bag stuck in a nearby tree.
The sight of bags and other litter stuck in trees makes me sad. How about you?
—
Oh plastic bag in nearby tree,
How my disappointment hangs with thee.
You yank and waggle in the blowing snow.
How I wish you would just let go!
Let go! Let go, I beg of you,
Because you’re ruining my ****ing view!
Poem – plastic bag stuck in tree
Last year, one of the offspring helped me remove a bag from one of the trees. I had purchased a 12 foot tree trimming pole just for that task. It worked. This time though, the bag was out of reach.
Writing this poem helped me express and share my frustration. People thought it was clever and funny. It was. It was but I still felt sad about the spoiled view, the symbolic, careless disrespect for nature.
My next writing task was an email to my landlord while I took a sick day from work. A combination of disrupted sleep due to car alarms sounding unnecessarily during the night and the sight of this bag inspired me to use my words, my power of persuasion through writing.
It worked. By the next evening, one of the landlord’s groundskeepers had removed the bag from the tree.
When I opened the blinds the next morning, Miss Geneva and I were pleased to see that the bag was gone.
Miss Geneva Tabby on her window perch
This confirms that you can use your writing skills to entertain, to elicit feelings AND encourage action. Of course, I promptly sent a follow-up message with a big “thank you” to the landlord and crew.
Thanks for dropping by.
T
Shewrite63 