If landfills became cemeteries
would there be more or fewer flies?
Your loved one six feet down
rests against a ten year old disposable diaper.
I might conclude the underworld
is the land before the landfill filled the landscape.
And with what? Our midden moxie.
All things broken unless exposed to be toxic.
What a site for future archeologists—
busy unearthing wrong conclusions about our culture.
Or maybe not. Maybe the layers upon layers
will develop enough pressure
to realign carbon compounds
into diamonds.
copyright © 2022 Kenneth P. Gurney