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Poets and artists

The Great Dustbinian Formation

One day, people will plot,
on the new maps of Earth,
where the fossils are.

They will come
with rock hammers
and collecting bags.

Their palaeontologists
will write learned papers,
four hundred million years from now,
hypothesising how we lived.

Taking the name from
vast deposits we left behind,
they will call us: The Dustbin Age.

Much will be said about
our signature fossil –
styrofoam pellets – so enduring,
they survived extreme heat
and glaciation intact.

Although too numerous
to be valuable, unlike the leathery
skeletons of extinct life-forms,
nonetheless, stories about them will evolve.

They will be collected
by children who use them in games;
wear them around necks for luck;
tuck them under their pillows for protection.

They will be exchanged
like promises by lovers;
sought by people fearing death
as proof of immortality.