The Garbage

by Marian Bednarek

They took my trash
oh my God
The bulky items behind the fence
I couldn't believe it when I came home
and they were gone.
                               after two months of waiting
my fence can finally play the music of wooden planks
and autumn trees 

It’s a seemingly ordinary scene
but I'm over the moon I didn't have
any massive required bulky items
like couches, tables, toilets, and other terrifying junk that
my neighbors had,
and yet they took all my misfortunes from me
packed in bags
I was so delighted I thanked Saint Mary
made a cup of coffee
and turned on the match on TV
Rayo Vallecano versus Villarreal CF 
It was a 1-1 tie
but I felt like this match-poem
was won by the garbage collection company by a score of ten thousand to zero
I sign my name to that vibrant, green field with
                                                                          its white lines
of madness.   

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Marian Bednarek is a Polish poet, painter, and theater director from Czernica. He led Teatr Mariana Bednarka in Rybnik for thirty years, directing 38 total works. He has won 16 theater and 16 poetry awards, including two wins at the K.K. Baczyński Competition. He has published many books, including Despacito (2025) and The Kingdom (2026), and his poems appear in major literary journals like Twórczość and Topos.