Finding Everyday Poetry In A Collection Of 700 Discarded Grocery Lists

Milk. Eggs. Bread. Where's the art in that? For Madison Gateman, the list is pure poetry. She's a former grocery store employee living in Vashon, Washington, who began gathering discarded grocery lists left behind at the store. As this segment from Seattle station King 5 Evening illustrates, her collection has grown to roughly 700 lists, which she displays in public places, like coffeeshops, around town.

"They need to be touched," Gateman told the station. "They need to be held and witnessed. They're important."

One of her favorite lists is short: just bananas and mousetraps.

Watch the entire segment, as it will truly make you think differently about not just grocery lists, but the flotsam, jetsam, and ephemera of every day life—and what might happen to those as we move toward app-based lists. (Gateman has also been profiled by The Seattle Times.) Those fascinated by Gateman's collection may also be interested in the Treasures In The Trash Collection in New York City, curated by a former NYC Sanitation employee, or by the Recycled Materials Museum—also called the Museum of Unnecessary Things—in Kiev, Ukraine.

In honor of Gateman, The Takeout staff has contributed its own grocery list poem, which we think is best appreciated when accompanied by a bongo and quiet snapping:

Chicken thighs and ketchupCashewsButternut squashCoffee filters—#4Whole milkFarroBeerString cheese