DISPOSABLE INCOME
A disposable income
Is a singular outcome
Just for you.
Unjust for the Earth.
We give our disposable incomes
To those that sell disposable things.
Why do we dispose our incomes like this?
Dispose them into the bank accounts
Of selfish, destructive people.
Their wealth is made of our money.
Our money,
That we carelessly hand over
To those that only see our loving Earth as a resource
To be transformed into trash
To be sold.
Why do we dispose our incomes to them?
Is it worth the convenience, fake comfort, and trash?
How do you make disposable income?
The ingredients:
Hours worked
Energy given
Life tossed
To the timesheet.
The reward:
Income you can dispose of.
In a despicable way.
A disgraceful way.
A dreamy and dreary way.
A disastrous and deadening way.
A desperate way.
A “distinguished” way.
A dubious way.
A dangerous way.
A dumb-ass way.
A dips-shitted way.
A way
That is hard not to follow
As it calcifies around us
Into a system
Of consumption.
Disturbing.
I’m disturbed.
I live here.
And I do it too.
I am shame.
I will be a little
Better than you
Waste a little less and
Feel more righteous.
How did I earn this righteousness?
Is it as simple as
Having less disposable income?
If I had more
Would I get with the program
And waste more?
Either way,
For now
I can curse
Your actions.
Exit my rage
Over my own compliance,
Maybe even my own jealously,
That you have so much
That you can dispose of it
So carefreely.
So carelessly.
Yet, simplicity can exist
Outside that system.
Patience over consumption.
Compassion over consumption.
Simplicity over consumption.
Simplicity, Patience, Compassion.
They are free.
They even cost negative money.
Less hours
Less energy
Less life
Less waste.
Wants reduced
Needs contemplated
Needs considered well
Needs well pursued.
An income
Well used
Less used
Better quality
Of stuff
Of life.
CREATIVE MATERIAL
Creative material
Is made with time, energy, resources,
Words
Used to contemplate.
Material.
Material goods.
Material waste.
Material consumption.
Consumption
Is a disease
Also known as tuberculosis.
Diminishing breath,
Contagious,
Spread through
The air
The heirs
The ears.
The air is
Spoiled by the production and hauling
Of the disposable things we buy.
The heiress
Beautiful and influential says,
“I am royal and desirable.
Spend and be like me.”
The ears
Are listening and overtaken,
Giving your attention,
Your mind and
You’re sold.
Overbuying
Overowning
Overspending
Overfilling
Overconsuming
Overwhelming
Stop.
Overcome.
A weakness,
That feels momentarily strong
With the purchase
That you tell yourself will improve your life.
Forgotten in the garbage in
No time.
It will sit in the dump for,
Yes, time.
We want access to excess.
More clothing
More gadgets
More gear
More things
More cheaply
More quickly
We want easy excess.
My instinct is to
Ease excess.
To ease access to excess.
Spend time, not money.
Make your material creative, compostable.
Give your time, energy, resources to
Poems and words.
Alive and thriving in their time.
Then easily easing into the ether.
Into the Earth.
Bio
Glenn Schneider Jr.
Born and raised by loving and wild parents along with three younger sisters on Chicago’s South Side, in Mt. Greenwood. His first love was literature, studying for a BA and MA at UIC. He then spent 3 years adventuring around the Americas including commercial fishing in Alaska, biking/hiking/hitching California’s Highway 1, and a year teaching and wandering in Colombia and Mexico. He returned to his roots in 2015 with an amplified excitement to explore the beauty of his home. That same year, he and a childhood friend started a non-profit that believes in adventure and finding the natural beauty here, near Lake Michigan. He is now the full-time Executive Director of that non-profit called Out Our Front Door which mainly leads inclusive bike camping trips from Chicago to teach about local nature and history. In 2025, he married Ahleli, the loveliest woman on the planet. That same year, he finished his first book, Travel Stories for My Home: Adventures on the Open Road and the Embrace of Return. He currently lives in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood.
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