A poem letter about my New Year's Resolution of litter-picking.
Once again, dear residents of
Bishopdown, you may have seen me
Piloting my little trolley
Over your front lawns and pathways,
Peering at the ground and under
Those bedraggled flower-beds that
Just survive beneath your windows,
For I have been litter-picking
With my grabber-stick and trolley,
Gloved and scarved and hatted that the
Arctic airs may not waylay me,
Collecting all the cans and bottles
Youths and drunks discard so freely,
Finding those fragmented pieces
That the Council mower-men have
Blithely motor-slashed much smaller,
Clearing out the weather traps of
This estate of housing, where the
Winter gales have blown the litter
Into likely collecting places -
Hedges, garage-spaces, corners -
Now some twenty sacks are making
Temporary ugliness in
My demesne, awaiting collection,
Ugly, yes, but I am happy
That my New Year's Resolution
Is successfully completed -
I stood much more chance of doing
This than struggling with a diet!
Finally, I'd like to make one
Point and some attempt to prompt you -
Everything which you can see from
Your front window should concern you,
Not just that small square of grass that
Fronts your house, but just as much the
Footway just beyond, that strip of
Grass which grows unto the kerbstones,
And the road which passes by it,
All are your environment and
Can, should you so wish, provide you
With a constant source of pride, for
All you need to do to gain your
Pride is to maintain and love it,
Make communal cleanliness and
Tidiness a prompt to action,
Take that care and pride in where you
Live, and reap rewards so doing -
Also saving me the trouble
Of my annual litter-picking!
Alan Doel,
Neville Close, Salisbury
Send letters by email to newsdesk@salisburyjournal.co.uk or by post to Editor, Salisbury Journal, Suite B (Ground Floor), Milford House, Milford Street, Salisbury, SP1 2BP.
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