Please Recycle

By Anna Badua

Practically everything
you buy these days
says ‘Made from recycled materials’
or ‘Please Recycle’
pizza boxes
water bottles
milk cartons
even motor oil
and I guess that’s supposed to
make you feel like
you’re purchasing a good product
because you’re not
cutting down more trees
or using the earth’s precious fossil fuels
It’s supposed to make you feel
like you’re in control of not putting
more waste onto our planet
I guess
it’s supposed to make you
feel good
Not the way you feel
when you find out your new lover
made the same book recommendations
he made to his ex-lover
or not the way you feel
sitting in a wicker cafe chair in the Latin Quartier
knowing your new lover took all his lovers there
You’re not supposed to feel
the way you wish
a new lover
would just be made
of new material