baltimoreblackwoman

June 14, 2020
10:50am

Of all the Heroes of Covid-19
braving the illness to serve us—
The doctors and nurses,
firemen and EMTs,
grocers, meatpackers,
postal workers
and pizza deliverers,

The lowly garbage man
was forgotten.

Week by week,
Month by month
of these coronavirus days,

We’ve gathered our trash
and recyclable waste,
set them out
at our curbs
or in our alleys,

in the full and certain
knowledge
that our detritus
would be
picked up.

But not today.

This week, our oh-
so-dependable Department
of Public Works announced:

Recycling is suspended
For the next three weeks.
And by the way,
Your garbage may sit
Unclaimed

for a day or two
or more.

Because your trusty
garbage man
has called out sick!

“How dare they?”
We cry out
in our
community chatrooms.

“If they don’t come,
we’ll be over-run
by rats and
other vermin!”


The current generation
of young homeowners
and their children
who set out their trash
in city-issued
industrial grade,
lidded plastic cans

may be forgiven
for not knowing
how things used to be:

When garbage was collected
Not once, but twice a week,
from rusted, dented
metal cans so overflowing
that maggots writhed
and flies buzzed
atop the open cans,
and the stench was
sickening.

But my friends and I
did not complain
that the cans sat
in the middle of the sidewalk,
blocking our clear path
to our schools
or playgrounds.

We simply pinched our noses,
cried “Ewww!!!”
and giggled
as we kept moving,
waving the stench away.