Like A Dog Returning To Its Own Vomit

Did you ever watch
A dog vomit
And did you ever watch again
As the very same dog
Returns the next day
To gobble down
The same regurgitated meal
That it left behind
The day before
I have

Did you ever watch
As the garbage workers
Come down the street
To pick up the trash
On trash pick up day
I have

I rather think
That they must hate
To do this kind of work
Unless they come to learn
To love the smell
Of rotting trash

Most times
The men manage
To get most of the
Garbage that has been
Put out on the curb
For collection

But sometimes
They get lazy
And some of the
Over stuffed
Trash bags
May burst
And all the spilled trash
Is left behind
Because it is too much
Work for the men
To have to go back
And sweep up
All of the detritus that has
Spilled all over the
Sidewalk

I wonder if that is
The way it is with us
Just too much trouble
To go back and
Sweep up all of the
Rubbish that we
Left behind
When we dumped
And trashed each other
Do you remember that?
I do

It seems funny
To me now how
Watching a dog eat its own vomit
And watching garbage men
Collecting the trash
Should remind me of us
Of me and you

All these years later
I just have to wonder
Do you still love
The smell of
Dumpster juice
On a hot summer’s day
I have to confess
That I still do

And you once said that
We had nothing in common

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2011