the ever-flowing materialization of the world

how is it possible for one person to exist here? it requires endless material, large and small, and every day is a struggle to get through it all! one brings in food and is left with packaging, endless amounts of it, to be sorted and discarded and at best sent off for reprocessing. a pile here of one sort, a pile there of another, to be lugged down stairs and placed in large containers, often already overflowing and poorly sorted.

what else comes in? paper, endless paper, and while that may be reprocessed in toto (a sudden thought of ancestors who had not yet invented plastic), so much of it must be saved, and sorted, and placed in different containers hopefully to be found again when required. a momentary lapse and this process falls far behind, and then there are containers on containers of unsorted or "might need" piling up on every surface, or if lucky shoved into large closet or spare room.

their clothes are nearly as disposable, a year or two and they become unwearable, and as yet cannot be reprocessed, though even recent ancestors would remodel or make rugs of them. but of course this was before they invented plastic. (the shiny surface of the polyester shirt-blend, so lustrous when new, so soon mottled and covered with small unremovable balls of material...)

one is noticing a plastic theme here! and with it one sees one's plastic pens, discardable, one's plastic keyboard, many times replaced due to spills and such, plastic drinking cups that soon become scratched, plastic soapdishes, plastic fans that wear out, etc etc.

but why not buy "quality"? some rich person says, wandering by. my dear sir! quality, alas, COSTS MUCH MORE. the things our ancestors took for granted are now marketed only to the rich, and in an ever-increasing spiral of costliness. drinking item made of glass or ceramic? somewhat more. made of "quality" glass? a lot more. made of "quality" glass with a famous name on it (why, oh why)? you might as well give up.

luckily i was sent to dwell in nigh-on poverty, for down here you see what is real and how it costs us. i must not only purchase, but personally deal with, store and discard all material that comes through, and i see the overflowing containers out back, and smell my neighbors' cooking, and run into them on the stairs as they move their tons of material in and out. (though note that one can acquire many useful items during this process - a privilege unavailable to the rich!)

somebody is yawning and saying, but hasn't this been addressed before? are you rich, by any chance, sir? or perhaps you just live as if you were, with cheap versions of everything and "plastic" of the very best sort, and as if an endless universe in which to discard it all.

it all comes around
in the end
novelty is destruction's best friend
while this may sound puerile
and heavy and dull
and maybe even "religious"
nevertheless, it is

when you find yourself a-walking in the woods
don't forget to leave behind your lugagge
those suitcases will hold you back
getting caught in trees!
and stumbling over every fallen log

when you're in the bog!
keep your feet dry
don't hesitate to bring along
another pair of shoes
a handkerchief is always handy
for sending signals out
and you might want
a book or two
to while the empty hours away
till someone digs you out

and as you wander through the fields
don't forget your compass
grass is all
so much alike
and there's such a way to go!

and when you make it through the mountains
wrapped inside your blanket
crawling through the snow...

and finally, down below
walking to the shore
waiting waiting
till your ship comes in

and all your things are gone by then
left them all behind
the socks the shoes the syllogisms
the hankie and the hankering
the money and the misery
you won't need them now

is it time for a Johnson's Toast break?

it's always time for a Johnson's Toast break!

morning morning noon and night
Johnson's Toast will make it all right

are ye havin a bad day?

ay, tis a long weary road and i cannot go on

why not try some Johnson's Toast?

heartbreak failure beggary
all the ills of mankind
just try a little - Johnson's Toast!

sadness madness misery
desperation all around
suicidal inclinations
waiting for that - morning train

well hang on, brother, just hang on!
here's the Johnson's, you can make it!
here's a loaf, go on, take it!

when all your friends have left you in the lurch
don't waste your time on some old musty church
there nothing for you there!
when even god don't seem to care

bring in the Johnson's, he'll be fine
all his cares will fall away
ooh it's crunchy-brown Johnson's
toasty-good
the best you ever had!!

and life
begins again
with Johnson's