Wednesday 17 January 2018

Littering over Summer



LITTER: A PERENNIAL PROBLEM IN A TOURIST TOWN

In the midst of tourist season I’ve a most compelling reason
To put forth a proposition to the people of this town
To avoid the awful bummer that confronts us every summer
We could bring in prohibition just to keep the litter down

Almost every can and bottle scattered freely through the wattle
And the Mallacoota beaches and the Mallacoota streets
Was once full of beer or bourbon and it’s messing up our urban
Grassy verges and the reaches of the natural world so sweet.

Tourists spend a lot of money but it isn’t very funny
When the trade-off is a heap of litter halfway to the sun
It seems the summer drinkers are the dirty rotten stinkers
Groups of bottle-dropping creeps with no respect for anyone

Every year when they’ve departed, groups of locals, broken-hearted
Get together to clean up the filthy mess that’s left behind
It’s our home, we want to share it - but we have to then repair it
After boozy litter-droppers of the grubby thoughtless kind

This harsh message I should soften, for the folks that visit often
Love this place for all its wild and pristine loveliness, it’s true
It’s the litter-chucking scum who should feel free not to come
Back to places they’ve defiled – and take your litter back with you!


© Sue Hines 2018