these are the things
that carried the stuff
that people bought
see those loops
for hands – handles
they’re called
carried boxes
the corners would
poke through
split sides
you can see why empties got crumpled
thrust into drawers
small thin ones used
to pick up dogs’ turds
the sturdier ones
for kitchen bins some got buried
with their cousins or
stuck up trees years
later plucked free or
flushed out to sea
to bob in packs some (not this one)
swallowed whole or
chomped through
by blue whales
wrapped round claws
or tails perhaps you’ve seen one
you can’t get them
any more but feel
how smooth and thin
logo intact how
perfectly preserved
(published in Mslexia issue 53, March 2012)