Two Poems by J. Scott Hardin

“Trash Tetris”

I put the beer bottle delicately,
Meticulously, into a crook
On the corner
Of the top
Of the garbage can.

I’m so disgusting sometimes
That getting anything into my kitchen basket
Is like surviving the eightieth level
Of a video game
Where you have to stack objects or die.

Day after day,
With ever more elaborate constructions,
I pile it on.
A banana peel fits just perfect
Between a half-gallon milk carton and a half-eaten yogurt.

Mush the old sock down.
Had a hole in the heel anyhow.
Cigarette boxes are light.
Good spacers.
Good for balance because they give, just a little.

Nobody keeps score or anything.
There’s no computer racking up the points,
But if you actually have to take out the garbage, you’ll die.
Only the master can get the full odor bonus
In Trash Tetris.


“A Second Flashlight”

It gives perspective,
Assures you are on safe ground while you look afar,
Focuses, brightens, resolves the images.
It is a collaboration of tools forged separately
But sometimes, -- when wills combine --,
Put to a common purpose.
Friendship is very much like walking in the dark
With a second flashlight.