Trash Poetics: Bin #2

Welcome to Trash Poetics, Bin #2

We got literal last time with Poetry is Trash. But this time, it’s personal. If you haven’t read Bin #1, you can find it here.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We’ve all got baggage and it can get heavy. Emotional trash piles up into life and has a way of dumping itself onto us as if we were landfills. With all that mess, it can become hard to separate and see each piece for what it really is. 

So what do we do as a quick fix? We squirrel it all away, letting it fester in our mental nooks of time encapsulated. 

While this trash can be gross to revisit, giving it some air to transform can do a body good. Think about it. Organic scraps become compost, aluminum cans get remelted and back in the game, plastics…float into the sea and within our testicles, hearts, and minds.

It just might be that our trash can become like the scraps and cans…reassessed, repossessed, and finessed into something different.

Microplastics are a different story. That’s the stuff for epic poems AND/OR therapy.

So how do we even begin to sort through it all?

Trash Poetics Exercise, Bin #2

Reduce the trash.
Reuse the past.
Recycle for a new present.

The goal of this trash poetry exercise is to not overthink. I recommend you put on a timer and try to start and finish the whole deal within 15 minutes. Saving Planet You is urgent and you already know the way. Trust your gut.

  1. Verbal Vomit!
    Within 2 minutes, write a response to one of the following questions.

    What is something that has recently annoyed you?

    Starter 

    on truck out 

    needed fixed

    called shops

    to price

    two shops issues

    told them truck

    told me bring 

    in shop

    give price

    3rd asked same

    then…


  2. Erasure!

    1. With a black marker or strikethrough on the computer, blackout at least 50% of your writing:

      1. the ands, ifs, buts,

      2. excess articles such as a, the, an

      3. the adverbs you could leave behind,

      4. the bits and pieces that do not serve you.

      5. Basically, get rid of words that don’t get to the point.

  3. Rewrite!

    1. On another sheet of paper, write the words that remain after your erasures.

  4. Trash it!

    1. You can literally throw it in the trash

    2. or tape it to your trash can.

Erasure Example.

That’s it! 

You’ve successfully reduced, reused, and recycled your heart’s garbage, giving it a new life as a poem and symbol of transformation. Now separated and recycled, hopefully it has become lighter…or at least something that brings you pleasure when you literally crumple it up and throw it away.

Get trashy: Send a photo of your trash poem for the Dump section of Trash Poetics, Bin #3


Get trashy: DM a photo on instagram of your trash poem for the Dump section of Trash Poetics, Bin #2 - @scum.poet



Written by Ashley Michelle C.

Ash(ley) Michelle C. is a pastoral erotic scum poet\a/rtist. From books to video and sculpture to ephemeral installations, her poetry-based pieces erase borders between poem, person and performance. Ash's chapbook, Hotel Gilbert & other horny poems was published by ESTO ES UN LIBRO in 2024. Her work appears and is forthcoming in: Taco Bell Quarterly, Currant Jam, Bullshit Lit, Adult Groceries and more. You can follow her poetry on insta: @scum.poet