ANDREW BURKE


The Wheelie Bin Novel


As domestic duty would have it
I went outside with the recyclable rubbish,
staring down at how many newspapers,
cereal boxes, tissues and cosmetic containers
we chuck out – and all the words with them.
There’s a good novel in there, I thought, as I threw more
into the wheelie bin – nouns, adjectives, adverbs,
prepositions, conjunctions, weights and measures,
imperial and decimal. It’s a variety show or
a beehive of human communications, mixed up
with a denouement – a dollop of yoghurt
and some dregs of wine.