[4.12 / December 2009]

Michael Jurkovic

THE PACIFIC TRASH VORTEX

When I first discovered
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch,

Twice the size of Texas
And currently on the move

I thought, “Star Trek, Star Date 4202.9″
As the Doomsday Machine

Ate every planet in sight
And it blew my mind!

How do we dispose
Of so much shit

That it is now mutating at horse latitude,
Migrating tenfold every ten years?

Tofu tubs trapped
In tropical gyres,

Bottle caps
Choking the birds.

Nurdles in the food chain,
Mermaid tears

Eaten by plankton,
Eaten by fish,

Eaten by our voracity
Passed on by our lust.

Poems have appeared/are forthcoming in over ninety literary magazines including South Carolina Review, Comstock Review, Xavier Review, Gargoyle, & California Quarterly. National anthologies: Water Writes (Codhill Press 2009), Riverine (Codhill Press, 2007), Will Work For Peace (Zeropanik,1999), Dyed-In-The-Wool: A Hudson River Poetry Anthology (Vivisphere, 2001). CD reviews appear regularly in Elmore Magazine, & The Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange. Currently vice president of The Howland Cultural Center & co-director of Calling All Poets in Beacon, NY. The Rock 'Ëœn Roll Curmudgeon, appeared in Rhythm and News Magazine 1997-2003. He loves Emily most of all.