6/25

for the most part
the beaches on FI are pretty clean,
people do occasionally
leave their beer cans & water bottles behind
but i think the majority of trash one sees
comes from boats
and is washed ashore

the worst aspect of this
are the mylar helium balloons
with their indestructible tails
of tangled curly ribbon:
happy birthday
congratulations
rainbows
unicorns
...
it is so clear
how destructive these objects are
to marine life

so on my long walks
i pick them up
and bundle them together
when i find a big one
i make a slit at the top with a broken shell,
let the icky helium escape
and carefully tear a small hole at the top
and stuff the other balloons into it

the balloons are very strong
but you can't let them start to tear
because they will totally come apart

this was a particularly disgusting and cumbersome mass,
i had originally given some attention
too how i was tying them up
hoping to make something
somewhat
aesthetic
alas
in the end
it was all i could do
to get them to the garbage