List Poem

Inventory: 13th & Columbia

Four sizes of spare tires,
styrofoam chests and tanks,
enough boxes to open a small store,


barbells and broken tables,
smashed skipoles and broken dreams,
extra motorcycle parts,


recyclable aluminum, brass, copper and iron,
pop cans, beer cans,
three hundred cans of paint,


questionable directions to anywhere
and what the hell are those for, anyway?
surplus water heaters, gasoline lanterns


all ready to explode,
lumber, planks, plywood and a ton of dowelling,
car batteries, building blocks,


electric tools and ratchets,
rat shits and cat shits,
sockets and spools,


industrial strength cleaners.
ten-thirty oil and a shitload of suitcases,
six empty garbage cans,


(what could you possibly put in them?)
one vacant stare,
tight security with no chance of any box


falling into enemy hands
and enough cat fights and arguments
to entertain the neighbourhood for weeks.

by Glen Wheeler




I really like this poem because it doesn't just list the items, it gives description to some and asks questions of others. The fact that it is a list of everything the author saw in his friends back yard makes it interesting and made me wonder what I could find in peoples backyards to write about, it seems that poetry is everywhere. One of my favorite lines in this piece is "smashed skipoles and broken dreams." It infers that someone once skiied but gave up possibly because they kept breaking their skipoles, theres much deeper meaning to it than that but each individual would have their own opinion of it so I'm going to leave it up for interpretation.