 |
Microplastic Pollution Is Everywhere, Even in the Exhaled Breath of Dolphins —Discover, October 28, 2024 |
You and your kind have been with me since
my teething toy days. Since doll faces kissed
and freeze pops squeezed from clear cold tubes.
Since hand-me-down raincoats and Halloween masks.
Since yogurt cups and zippered sandwich bags.
You’re in my clothes, my water, my breakfast.
I now know you’re in my blood.
In everyone's blood.
In our breast milk, brains, muscle, hearts.
You are carried in the bodies of snowy owls and orcas,
bonobos and brown bears and baobab trees.
You are exhaled in dolphin breath.
You ride through air and oceans, ride through us.
When we die, you will persist
for thousands of years.
We humans dream of leaving a legacy
but not like this.
Not like this.
Laura Grace Weldon lives in a township too tiny for traffic lights where she works as a book editor, teaches writing workshops, serves as Braided Wayeditor, and chronically maxes out her library card. Laura was Ohio’s 2019 Poet of the Year and is the author of four books.