In cities of central Ecuador,

you may have a surprise in store

when it’s time to discard some trash:

you can do it with real panache.

The cans for throwing things away

are not olive green or gun-metal gray

but decked with images of a circus

almost to the point they irk us.

Clowns and pigs and ducks and mice:

do they repel us or entice?

Should we saunter up with bravura

or shiver when we drop off basura?

Bozo isn’t quite so fetching

if his gaping mouth appears to be retching.

Maybe we should credit a city

for trying to make its garbage pretty

and the cans are cute, but here’s the thing:

they somehow remind us of Stephen King.