Summer Bandshell

Christa Fairbrother

Before the music starts, the kids run down 
the hill, crushing the plain, ubiquitous, 

taken for granted grass.  Blades taking root
atoms: carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, 

in concert with the sun, stir in water
create chlorophyll, cellulose, lignin.

Verdant magic that conjures our basic
building blocks, belches breaths of fresh air, feeds

our food.  But what has our feet not ever
destroyed?  We try to learn our lesson, out-

maneuver our overcrushing, create 
more durable shades: polypropylene, 

polyethylene, nylon, neon, your dog's
favorite, AstroTurf.  Greens that remain 

green no matter the many miles suffered, 
and in revolt of the sun, do not grow, 

but melt into smaller and smaller greens.  
A hot grass we graze and picnic upon, 

raise our disposable bottles to toast 
our party with an ocean of plastic.

The Science

This poem, Summer Bandshell, compares the natural materials of real grass with the components of artificial grass.  I live in Florida.  Astroturf is a very common replacement for real grass, as it doesn’t require water or tons of fertilizer in our poor sandy soils.  However, it’s made of toxic compounds that break down quickly in our intense sun, which people are exposed to, and then end up in our ocean as plastic pollution. My local radio station, WUSF, published an article about this problem. Clean Water Action, which works on this problem around the country, also wrote about the harm caused by artificial turf.

The Poet

Christa Fairbrother, MA, has had poetry in Bellingham Review, Crannog, Epiphany, Pleiades, and Salamander, among others. Currently, she’s Gulfport, Florida’s poet laureate and a poetry editor at Phylum Press. She’s been a finalist for the Leslie McGrath Poetry Prize, the Wilder Prize, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize twice. Connect with her at www.christafairbrotherwrites.com, on IG @christafairbrotherwrites, or BlueSky @christafairbrother.

Next poem: The Great Ocean Cleanup by Kathleen P. Decker