The Power of the Net in Action

concerning Plastic Waste in the Sea

By Ralph Kratzer

In response to my article “Plastic Waste in the Sea – an acute Problem!” on our websites “cyprusscene” and “tfrnorthcyprus” we were offered by Chris Green, a writer and columnist for the Cyprus Star (a weekly national newspaper in Northern Cyprus), to publish a poem on this subject which he composed in North Cyprus late in 2008 and which was originally published in the Star:

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This Blighted Isle (A story about a plastic bottle in Cyprus)

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I am a plastic bottle, but I am not short of a friend
For there are thousands of us lying here on this island end to end

You will find us at the roadside or in a drainage ditch
The pollution on this sceptered isle is at fever pitch

And so we lie here patiently awaiting a thousand year decay
Our numbers growing steadily every single day

Like a hydro carbon carpet covering shore to shore
And it will continue ‘till land you’ll see no more

Oh, why can we not be recycled and live a life anew
It might be fun to be a bollard or perhaps a traffic cone, or perhaps the fabric of a mobile telephone

I’d love to be a shelter keeping people dry
But the wastage on this island is enough to make you cry

You could melt me down to basics and turn me into tar
I’d help make the roads much better and safer for the car

I am a plastic bottle, please listen to my plight
We didn’t ask to come here and to cause such blight

So hear our plea we beg you, try with all your might
Tidy up this island, restore the wondrous sight

Chris Green

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© CG 2008.  All rights reserved.

To read more about Chris Green – please click here