The Greatest Poverty
The logic of rain eludes us.
All that texture wasted while
trees toss their top-heavy manes
and the planet drinks itself dry.
The village hunkers and shrugs.
Steeples point out the absence
of employable father figures
while the hum of air conditioners
triggers memories of bathing
in ponds where leeches plotted.
Your daily promenade takes us
to the post office, grocery store,
bakery. We settle inside
the disguise of our sun-worn skins
and accept the latest deviance
despite its sculpted politics.
Stevens said the greatest poverty
is not to live in a physical world,
but we suffer the loss of context
amid the muck of too much matter.
Maybe if I wore a pin-stripe suit
every day to work I’d ripen
in colors of more than one world,
all of which I’d share with you.
Author: William Doreski
Photo: jötâkå on Unsplash
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