Paper

How many trees did it take?

How many forests were removed?

Paper, paper, reams and reams,

carton after carton, pallet

staked upon pallet, semi-truck

following semi-truck rolling down

every highway and bi-way across

the land, nationwide, worldwide.

How many trees did it take

to supply you and I, they and them,

each and every mother and father,

sister and brother, Aunt Molly

and Uncle Bill? Think of it,

Mark Twain a hundred or so

years ago putting pen to paper

in order to create Tom Sawyer,

Huckleberry Finn. Now imagine

Shakespeare, Hemingway,

the Brontë Sisters, Beethoven,

Bach and Brahms, why hell

Puff Daddy and Fitty Cent.

Imagine all the damned

trees it took and takes to

supply Kinko’s, Fed Ex and

UPS? And here I sit with

years of bank statements

packed into boxes and

drawers, with one last

measly section of toilet

paper in my hand to finish

wiping up my morning

business.

-30-

Chris Hanch 7-1-2023