Pick-Up Day

I missed you again this week.
You have grown wilier, more efficient.
You come early in the morning now, more diligent, faithful
Eager to see me before any others.

I don't know how to approach your sudden loyalty.
Skitterish and baffled, I completely distrust
Everything about you, even the surety that if I don't
Know when you will arrive, my neighbors do.

Tidy black bags set neatly along their paved drive
Almost an affront to the word garbage
Were once a beacon to tell me when, how, why.
But even the neighbors are mute now when it comes to you.

I will take my trash to the back porch, no further
You can drive by and pretend not to notice it again, laughing.
And I will look at it, during the course of the week
Wondering if you will astound me once again.