C. Powers

Field Trip

The recycling facility had some interesting things to offer, among them a mountain. It looked vaguely like an isolated stream deposit, a random ridge
of conglomerate.  On closer inspection, it looked more like mulch, or compost.  The only reason I found out what the mound consisted of was
because I asked, "What is that anomalous hunk of dirt doing there."  Turns out it is shredded "fluff" from scrapped automobiles, upholstery, foam
rubber, etc., dating from the 1940's, leaking PCPs and god-knows-what other stuff into the groundwater table, but we were swiftly shuffled on. Shuffled along to view the myriad Borg-like bales of scrap ready to be shipped to points widespread.  Actually, these were worth looking at: each was a block of homogeneous metal, crunched into a cube and bound with wire
and chain.  The shapes the metal displayed... distorted, scraped, grooved,polished...presented a fascinating sculpture that I found beautiful.  I
wished that I had my good camera with me, these would be good subjects. These blocks were of all hues: copper, brass (17 different grades of scrap
brass!), aluminum of all forms and shapes. I could envision a wall in a public place constructed of the bales of aluminum. In one of these bales,
part of a metal draftsman's ruler could be seen, displaying the numbers 6,
7, 8...