poetry in motion

Upon taking out some trash
After years of mental deterioration
After a lifetime of training my mind to be anywhere but present
I threw my old xmas tree,
and a garbage bag
and my goddamn keys
into the dumpster.
Just present enough to render the jingle of the garbage falling as "odd"
My mind slammed back into my body
just as the high security garbage bin gate slammed behind me
and I thought
"Well shit"

Upon loitering near the front door
I encountered a tenant who let me in
with only a mildly awkward stranger danger moment
as it turns out we were briefly walking the same way
I'm sorry lady
I just wanted my spare keys
I threw my others in the goddamn dumpster
Good night, god bless, where are my spare keys

Upon retrieving my spare keys
After opening the garbage gate
which for some reason has three
THREE
strings of barbed wire over the top
I opened wide the dumpster lid
and peered within
"I see them!" I cried
to an audience of nobody

I hoisted myself up
low self-esteem about upper body strength aside
between the two dumpsters
and neatly levered myself to the top
and then adroitly over
it was poetry in motion
but stinky by scent
a descent into stench
in search of lost keys
I was touching it
oh god, I was touching all of it

"Aha!" I cried
betrayed by their own saucy jingle
and though they tried to slip,
slip
slip
further
and further
into the reverently collected refuse of my neighbors
I grabbed them
leaped nimbly to the top
and then over
and then down
poetry in motion
hell to smell
and it was then that I showered
for one million years
poetry in motion
wash this aroma
straight into the ocean