Poetry in Motion

So my buddies and I are eating a pizza
in a picnic pavilion in a public park
in Bridgeton, New Jersey, and this guy
in a Bridgeton Municipal pick-up truck
pulls up and stops, gets out, pulls
the top off a trash barrel next to us,
pulls out a loaded trash bag, ties it shut,
and without even looking, throws it
back over his shoulder one-handed
twenty feet into the truck bed.
Clunk. Perfect. Beautiful.

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W. D. Ehrhart is an ex-Marine sergeant and veteran of the American War in Vietnam. His latest book is Thank You for Your Service: Collected Poems, McFarland & Company.