there’s a crumpled tissue
in the middle of the hiking trail
flitting slightly in the wind
like the petals of a false flower
I see it from far away
this bit of white
breaking up the
spring landscape colors
this little litter left in the dirt
I watch maybe ten people
walk by it without picking it up
who knows what it was used for
I approach it
but I don’t want to carry
somebody else’s tissue
in my pocket
for the rest of my hike
so I leave it too
like everybody else
and when I’m on my way back
thirty minutes later
it’s still there
and I bet it is there now
what can be done
with a thing like this
with something
nobody wants to touch
but everybody notices
who will take away
all that ruins
our perfect picture of preservation
who will clean the world
so we don’t have to
dirty ourselves
with other’s trash
who will build us a safe world
where we aren’t faced
with icky things
not you
not me
not anybody I saw today