Oct. 15, 2023
Audio
Ode to Plastic Cups
By Naomi Ortiz
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Ode to Plastic Cups
“The goal is for no trash to be sent to landfills, incinerators or the ocean.”
By Naomi Ortiz
Weight of both reusable glass plus liquid means
my wrist twists down
the only direction it bends
sends drink to splash on carpets or slippery floor
Worse yet
non-flexing elbow means arm
smacks cup across room with accidental gusto
at least once a week
Beloved coffee cups
shatter into h u n d r e d s of p i e c e s
must dredge energy to clean up now
hot beverages, my expensive habit
At restaurants, I have to ask for a straw
slick perspiring drink
pointless to even try to lift
to lips with fingers, hand, shoulder
Instead, I bat and slide glass across tabletop
position straw below mouth, sip
then push it back, nudge, shift
Except, every once in a while, I miscalculate
or glass bottom catches on table surface
to topple and douse eating companion with cold beverage
saturate my clothes and shoes good
Unless the cup is plastic
Oh, chemically bonded vessel, with your springy forgiveness
to bounce passively on floor, patiently listless
you wait for me to retrieve you in my own time
Oh, plastic cup
with your bright shiny colors
your fun designs
your resilient sides
As scooter squeezes you between wheel and wall
you may bend, but do not crack where you lie
Weight light, large brim
I can sip straight from the rim
Glossy red party cups sold in long plastic bags
last me month-long jags
I stock up, dollar store deals
just what works for my body
call it an accommodation
this need for plastic cups
As disabled person
independence is precarious
daily life and reason
constructed upon a wobbly set of Crip hacks
get me from, can’t to good enough
Where is my place in zero waste?
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Wikipedia, s.v. "Zero waste," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_waste.
Citation:
“Ode to Plastic Cups.” 2022. Tupelo Quarterly, Volume IV, Issue 27, “A Forum on Disability Poetics —” curated by Christopher Salerno.
Naomi Ortiz
Naomi Ortiz (they/she) explores cultivating care and connection within states of stress through their poetry, writing, facilitation, and visual art. Reimagining our relationship with the U.S./Mexico borderlands and challenging who is an environmentalist is investigated in their new collection, Rituals for Climate Change: A Crip Struggle for Ecojustice (punctum books). Their non-fiction book, Sustaining Spirit: Self-Care for Social Justice (Reclamation Press) provides informative tools and insightful strategies for diverse communities on addressing burnout. A 2022 U.S. Artist Disability Futures Fellow and a Reclaiming the Border Narrative Awardee, Ortiz is a Disabled, Mestize living with their partner and cats in the Arizona borderlands. Lean more at their website.
Image description: Light-skinned Mestize with dark hair, silver hoop earrings, burgundy lipstick and a black sweater with a white star sits in their scooter smiling surrounded by golden creosote bushes. Photo credit: Rachel Marie Photography