I’ve been grounded for three weeks
but what did I do that was so wrong?
It’s not like I threw litter on the ground
Or got drunk at a beach party or Mardi Gras
My mother just caught me putting
the recycling in the waste bin, AGAIN
and now it is waste, in an Asian landfill
“Everyone does it”, I said
but she just frowned instead
Sick of putting out my fires
I think she has grown tired
Her eyes watered
and the tears touched the ground
The streets stood empty
and her tears washed the dirt from the ground
I’ve been grounded for three weeks now,
no Spring Break or flights to faraway places
the planes have all been grounded too
and we are all missing school
Even Greta Thunberg is self-isolating
what did she do, to upset our mother?
Was it the truancy that hurt her mother?
Surely there has been no other,
environmentally friendly treehugger,
Goodie Two-Shoes Thunberg, grounded too
She warned us, her generation would suffer,
have we finally taken her childhood away?
Through the sea, we have filled it with plastic,
my friend Carlos is now picking up those pieces
His holiday interrupted, he now collects the rubbish
on the empty beaches where lifeguards will arrest you*,
a one-year jail sentence for using the Hotel pool
His father once bought two ambulances
by sacrificing Christmas bonuses
but what sacrifices will we make?
Will we learn from our mum & dad?
Will we buy ambulances
and clean the plastic from the sand?
But as the rain falls hard in Spain
I see the true-in-C of our truancy
Coronavirus is the cure
right outside our doors
Our ways will have to change
or at least that is my view
from Spain, looking at the rain.
Morgan Fagg en Madrid
April Fools’ Day 2020
ON YOUR BIKE: The road ahead is long, try some cycling and recycling.
LIFE'S A BEACH: Vitamin D and Fanta C but does our waste just end up, in the sea?
BIN THERE, DONE THAT: Carlos takes out the trash while the Stock Markets take a crash.
*Lifeguards won't arrest you but signs have warned of one year sentences for using the pool.
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