floating condoms, the defining
moment of the wastewater plant
field trip, the hands of the plant
manager, our tour guide, pointing
out the human population’s gift.
the city of Austin, late nineties,
our donor base at the time, had
been reduced to this great pool,
of top floating memorabilia.
tokens regularly assaulting
the system clarifiers, it
was explained, a plug of condom
infused wastewater alternating
with currents of beer content on
game days or from certain southern
sections of the city, he surmised,
one or the other, I can’t be
to sure which one for certain, but
truly, the take away for most
of us, had to have been the sheer
number of air infused balloons;
floating prophylactics swirling
and bobbing and being collected,
segregated, culled out, and shed;
fit not even for the Dillo dirt.
Gary Edward Geraci