Where is the fool
when everything is foolish.
What contrast
can he make
a gap about,
standing
as he was,
once upon a hill,
and all the vales
in between,
hoping
to suggest
a space
where others would want
no more than to make
connections across.
Meanings that might
change the stage
of play
and the acts
that we have paid
to have hold of us now.
The lines we draw
now, between and upon,
what once kept us
from breaking
bonds that could
be shared
even as other
meanings could not,
have made the part
that cooperation
once played,
in keeping
the actors on
the page where
the subtext isn't
destruction,
a farce, and
long past
the last stage
for thoughtful,
loving life
to play any part upon.
We are now
the Relative States
of America.
Can meanings vary
and still allow for
a common ground
upon which a republic
can still stand?
Not if abstractions
are all we deal in;
where counters
and other people paying
are all we work for.
Thoughtful, loving life
is not made
only of costs
to be avoided
and net gain
to be maximized.
It is effort that should be
shared, so that
individual achievement
can be appreciated
by everyone, and
everyone appreciated
for sharing
in the first place;
the burdens
as well as the joys.
I like going left.
You like going right.
And that is
as will be.
It does not change
the fact
that we all have
to mange ups
at times.
and to navigate downs
at times as well.
Making common cause
out of smoothing
those paths
seems to this fool
to be simple practicality.
Speaking practically, though,
maybe that's the essence
of our new absurdity.
