It may not be the Thames or the seine

But let’s drag and pull out the cups and the bottles

The supermarket trolleys

The bikes

Last year’s thing

In last year’s colour

Along with the bodies

The rats and the occasional drowned cat

The bag of kittens

A scarf or a hat

A left-handed mitten

 

Let’s empty the canal

The rushing river

Let’s pick out the litter

Of countless generations

Dredge the gutters and the alleys

Of the plasterboard bricks and burnt out remains

Of tyres and cigarettes

 

All the detritus

Of the concentrated effort of self-destruction

Let’s stop and sort

Rehouse and recycle

The combines and the tractors

Left in fields

The dying death of another age

 

Let’s not drown in a sea of filth and excrement

The discarded soaps and potions

That so many empty bottles that litter the oceans

Let’s not bury out to sea

In a place where we and others might swim and pee

Let’s love ourselves

And all that we use

In where we live

Let’s do it

Let’s do it now

Let’s fall in love

With life for the living

YES, you and me