Careless Plastic Bag User:

I hate you.

Careless Plastic Bag user — this is your bag thrashing in my tree. Author photo.

Careless Plastic Bag User,

I hate you.

The one-time use plastic bag you used to carry home heavens-knows-what is now flapping in the branches of my 125-year old black walnut above my beautiful brick patio.

Every time I’m outside — which is a LOT — the sound of your careless action fills my ears and hurts my eyes.

The plastic bag you were careless enough to let fly away is now, forever more twisting, shuttering, thrashing, and fighting like a wild animal to be free above my head; too far out of reach from me to capture and dispose of properly.

I hate you.

I hate that your careless choice is now an unnatural part of the soundscape of my backyard.

Will your plastic bag scare away the ladderback woodpeckers that come to the black walnut in search of delicious insects?

Will the furious billowing of your plastic bag spook the black hatch chickadees that scamper headlong up and down the 125-year old black walnut searching the bark for insects?

Will your plastic bag lashing in the wind make butterflies and moths think twice about coming to my backyard sanctuary to sip nectar from the flower gardens I planted for them?