Deep down
Everything is dark.
Everything, except
Of the path
Illuminated by headlights
Of the sewer heroes
As they test
Water’s pH levels
On a regular basis.
They can’t hear
Sounds from above,
Nor birds singing.
Maybe an occasional
Frog song cracks those
Water sounds.
They wear uniforms,
To stay safe.
Yet underneath,
They hide fun T-shirts
With rug patterns and bears.
If you’d ask them,
What’s so special
About moments
Spent under the city,
They might respond
With their usual, low-key:
“I don’t know.”
But they do.
There are times,
They’d think for themselves;
“I’m scared.”
In their heads,
They might replay
Time and time again
That last football game
They watched.
That is their
Very own
Entertainment channel
As they roam sewer lines.
If you’d go down there,
Five minutes might feel
Like a 44-day trip to
Outer space.
But hang on,
It’s not over
Until it stops.
“It” being the sewer pipes.
Constantly constipated
By millions of flushes.
Until you can’t think
Of anything anymore.
The only word
That reappears in your mind
Is Mississippi.
One Mississippi.
Two Mississippi.
Three hundred seventy-nine
Mississippi.
Bam. Loud crack.
Bottle comes out
Rushing from the pipe.
There’s a message:
“I don’t do funny things.”
Signed by Chille & Bandit & Bluey & Bingo.
That’s the end
Of our one.
Another eight hours
To go…as they
Clean out and clean up
City sewers together.
Sonik
Dedicated to the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and the Clean Water Fest 2024.
