I don’t know why this simple apparatus
makes me smile. After months

of scooping out lemon rinds
and soggy granola with bare hands,

there’s something sweet
about the soft buzz of a motor

mushing up the day’s drudgeries.
It’s a mind, body, spirit kind of thing,

don’t you think? I mean,
when another active shooter

splatters our headlines red
and migrants get stored in cages

while the planet sizzles
and viruses roam the earth

a garbage disposal seems to have
an odd way of leveling the playing field.

Barbara Conrad is author of three poetry collections: The Gravity of Color, Wild Plums and There Is a Field. She is also Editor of Waiting for Soup, an anthology from the world of homelessness. Her subjects range from ironic takes on life to hard truths about social injustice—hopefully with a bit of attitude.