The Rubbish Bin Poem by Loke Kok yee

This poem is such a vivid snapshot of the town dump and how it feeds so many hungry creatures. Right at the bottom of the heap is this poor man taking what he can for little more than a pittance to just exist. WOW a disturbing realistic view of survival at the lowest point.10++

This is a picturesque description of how the waste is rummaged for sustenance by the hungry lot! There is something to appease the hunger of rat and cat, dog and crow! But the heap is never exhausted as man is so 'generous' to dump more and more into the pile! What magnanimity.......! ! GREAT write!

I “love’ …………… “mangy mongrels”. not as pets, but as an alliteration! halfway through this poem, and I’m “loving” IT also. and I’m getting awfully hungry! I hope to remember to send this to MyPoemList. SO. let me get this straight! the dogs/mongrels come as “evening falls” and either are fully satisfied and gone before the cats arrive to feast “before dark”, OR do the cats arrive and stay out of the way until the mongrels are finished, OR do the cats mingle with the mongrels? ? ? I mean, the cats are “next in line”, BUT maybe they just join the doggies? unlikely I suppose. otherwise some cats might join the offal**** as doggy dinner. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ****I just learned this word a few years ago: “of•fal ˈôfəl, ˈäfəl/ noun noun: offal; plural noun: offals 1. the entrails and internal organs of an animal used as food. o refuse or waste material. o decomposing animal flesh.” ==================================================== “‘tis the time the rats ‘ awaiting and they’ll be having a ball.” ……….. I have some ‘trouble’ with this line. let me know, please, if this is as intended. :) I was thinking of ‘complaining’ a bit about some of the punctuation (thinking back to when I got marked ‘off’ by English teachers for grammatical and spelling errors) , BUT then I remembered this is POETRY, aka writing-in-which-authors-are-given-more-leeway in ‘how to write’. PLUS, I had NO trouble understanding the poem, except a bit in the line I quoted above (with rats in it) . PLUS I know that I also do not follow all the rules of English which I learned, even in my PROSE on PH :)) I would have liked to hear MORE from the flies, and I hope maggots (baby flies) get their turn eventually. A superb poem for me. great rhyming! ! ! ! when do I get MY turn at the bin? ? [actually, I DID once take food out of a “dumpster”. it was boxes (unopened) of x-mas candy canes ………years ago. I think I DID eat a few, and others got used as decorations or got thrown out ……….AGAIN! BRI :) I MAY “have to” read another of this poet’s poems someday! maybe he/she [these oriental names' can be tricky! ] would care to offer one or two for November’s (or October’s) showcase on my site? p.s. I just read the poem over. it sounds like the cover, though bent (badly) was closed pretty well, and I was wondering if someone/something lifted it to allow the dogs et al inside. hmm? ok, maybe the person who threw in the rubbish was careless or non-caring [or an animal-lover] and left the cover off? and it is great that you ‘plugged’ recycling by humans! I imagine that goes far to make better use of resources. p.p.s. i assume 'tis is in place of It is/It's, since in the other stanzas you only capitalize first words of lines #1 and #2, independent of 'formal capitalization rules for prose' and unlike any other poem i can remember readiing.

You have painted such an amazing picture of the goings on in and around a rubbish bin and how marvelous the imagery. I can hear, I can see and ouuu the smell...you took me by the hand and took me there...Excellent description.....

The life cycle of a rubbish heap was never so wonderfully described before. Thanks Loke