Man on a Wire - Sept 12 2023

 

Man On a Wire

Sept 12 2023

Empty boxes

pile up in the shed

like dust balls and debt.

A jumble of cardboard

in various shades of brown

that could be a work of art;

a cubist painting

or conceptual sculpture,

an architect's fever dream.

Or, as an engineer would call it

“kraft paper

in corrugated fibreboard”.

And the many items

I have purchased

that either disappointed

or broke

and have already been disposed of.

But the boxes remain.

Not as art

but stern admonishment

for failing to recycle

reuse

reduce.

A silent testament

to heedless consumption.

The mountain grows larger.

I look away

from its accusing eye

and toss another on top,

teetering there

like a tightrope walker

before the fall.