Taxco (alphabet poem)

Taxco

As I consider yesterday’s trip to Taxco,
being as open to the experience as possible, I
can’t help but be a little
disappointed.
Everywhere I looked, there was garbage.
Fountains in plazas were filled with trash instead of water.
Groups of people were visiting in the plaza, which was nice.
Here and there I saw the occasional bird, but
in the city itself, I saw mostly
junk, both in stores and out. I hope the
kitchens are cleaner than I imagine, but I don’t
let myself think about that.
Most of the people looked happy enough,
not paying a whole lot of attention to
onerous things such as bad smells and graffiti.
People adjust, I suppose,
quite naturally to what is their life,
realizing that they can’t do much about it, or perhaps not even
seeing or being aware of it.
Too often, we just don’t notice as the
underlying fabric of civilized life, which is really so
very fragile
wears away, bit by bit,
exposed to
years of
zooming taxis and hopeless kids with spray cans.

2/23/09