Poems For Children

In the land of Stinkmucky, where everything smells
From the food on the tables to the water in the wells
There lived a young man (maybe you’ve heard)
Who went by the name, Finnius McFilthy, The Third

Finnius smelled ripe, he was fetid and funky
His odor was rotten and seriously skunky
If you’re thinking EEEWWW! – that’s disgusting and vile
I would have to say you’re wrong, and by about a mile

Things in Stinkmucky ran backwards, you see
Let me explain and I’m sure you’ll agree
Their trash was delivered when it was garbage day
And when things grew too spotless, they gave them away

All their songs were about garbage and their books about trash
They even used diapers that were dirty for cash
The world of Stinkmucky was a world upside down
Because the people in Stinkmucky lived under our ground

The Stinkmucky subjects were pleasant and nice
Even with scalps always itchy from lice
They had faces and bodies all slathered in slime
And sixteen sickening species of grime

One of the foremost of all the Stinkmucky
Was our fine friend, Finnius, persevering and plucky
Mr. McFilthy was a Stinkmucky self-made
With a BIG booming business in the trash traffic trade

He owned the largest of the barges in Bilious Bay
And if you wanted fresh garbage, it was Finnius you’d pay
Yet after too much of his life filled with too much debris
Finnius wondered what else he could see

So he emptied his coffers and gave garbage for free
To every Stinkmucky, in a grand jubilee.
Finnius did what had not been done before
He wondered what lay beyond, there had to be more!

He then tried something else that was oddly unique
Scrubbed himself squeaky, and started to speak
“Stinkmuckies,” he said, in a voice that was clear
“I’ve decided to climb to the tall side of here.”

Finnius pointed high, then picked up his pack
And started to walk, Stinkmucky to back
He climbed and he climbed, and then on day seven
Finnius stumbled upon Stinkmucky Heaven

He found 37 mountains, all bulging with junk
Heaps upon mounds, over piles of gunk
His eyes could hardly believe what they’d found
These billions of treasures just lying around

Finnius wasn’t the type to be reckless or rash
But this garbage was certainly not any old stash
He found knolls under hills under mountains of cash
Just lying around in that unguarded trash

So Finnius sat down and he started to think
On top of a pile of impossible stink
McFilthy stayed rooted right there on his dune
Until the next day, some time around noon

The ground shuddered and shook with a rumbling sound
As big metal monsters clamored over the ground
The beasts bellowed and boomed and rumbled and roared
Each spitting trash through an open back door

Then the beasts rolled away with a deafening chatter
As though the trash on the ground did not even matter!
Well, reason said one thing and said it quite clear:
These monsters were trying to make trash disappear

That left only one answer which made any sense
I’ll explain it right now, so you’re not in suspense
If this heavenly world, so reeking and rotten
Was only a landfill, best soon forgotten

Then the land of Stinkmucky, that world just below
Was the world where they must want for all trash to go
And if garbage was something they didn’t care for a bit
And they built this big place just to get rid of it

That could only mean one thing – the thought made him collapse
The people of Stinkmucky had been living on scraps
This Nirvana of garbage could set Finnius for life
And even his great-great-great grandson’s young wife

But Finnius thought bigger – in terms of because
And he wanted to know why all of this was
Finnius marched to a monster (a large garbage truck)
And yelled to the driver, “Stop moving the muck!

I hope you have answers for these questions I’ve got
Like what is the deal here with all of this rot?”
“There’s so much putrescence penned up in one place
Don’t you enjoy it in your own living space?”

The garbage man sighed as he dropped from his truck
He was covered all over in yellowing yuck
“Why would anyone live near this horrible smell?
Whenever I’m here, I never feel well

I just do my job, I unload my load
Then I hurry back home before I explode.”
“What are your homes like?” Finnius flushed
“Well, mine’s really quite clean,” the garbage man blushed

“My wife keeps it tidy while I’m here in the muck
The last thing I want is a house full of yuck.”
“I am not understanding, so please let us be clear.
Why do these behemoths bring all the trash here?”

“It’s really quite simple,” he started to say.
“We come out on trash day and take it away
People have cans, plastic and strong
Which keep getting fuller as the week rolls along.”

Finnius stared with his eyes open wide
His confounded expression he did not try to hide
“So diapers, and bottles, and broken toy cars,
Boxes, apparel, and old VCR’s?”

“Yes it is true,” the man looked ashamed
“People throw out all of that stuff that you named
Plus all kinds of things, you would not believe
And I haul it all year, with a two week reprieve.”

Finnius could not believe what he’d heard
There must be mistakes in the garbage man’s word
How could any one culture be so distasteful
So impossibly, imprudently, lavishly wasteful?

Finnius stood straight, finger to sky
He could not allow this to simply pass by
He sucked in some air and he made his voice grand
“I demand to speak to the one in command!

I fear that your leader must be replaced
For allowing such a reprehensible waste.”
The garbage man shifted, looked anywhere but straight
“Now I’m not trying to avoid you or make you irate,

But hundreds of millions of people did this
In fact most of our world has been awfully remiss
The problem it stretches as far as we see
It involves just about everyone… including me.”

Finnius was stunned, shocked, and aghast
These people knew how to build problems to last
“Listen.” he said, “I beg you to hear
This is not a small problem which will just disappear.

You are digging yourselves an awfully big hole
If you do not get all this under control
I’m a Stinkmucky, and don’t care to shout
But this is not something we can do much about.

You produce far more garbage than we’ll ever need
We’re quite happy down there, not victims of greed –”
“I’ll stop you right there,” said the garbage man, grave
“I agree with all the advice that you gave

But I am only one man, what can I do?”
Finnius just stared. “It can all start with you.
Just think of this answer: we all do our share
Each of us worry and all of us care

Alone we stand stunted, and really quite small
Yet added together, we’re able and tall.
Just do your best, that’s the best you can do
Hopefully, your neighbor will do the same, too

I’m going back home now, to return to Stinkmucky
Where even though things are all slimy and yucky,
We are never wasteful and always are sparing
Treating our world with compassion and caring

I wish you all well, and I wish you all luck
Deciding what you should do with all your junk.
I imagine you’d consider it fairly unlucky
If your world started to look like our world of Stinkmucky.”

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