Empty Plates With Dancing Tales
A crowd gathers
A performer spins
A dozen plates on poles
Like angels dancing on pinheads
How many are possible?!
Worthy of a few coins
Fore a collection of small bills
[Unmarked except by bankers]
Gathered wear
One’s head might normally be
South versus North
An animal magnetism
Whose gravity is unequaled
And might be considered
Un-slavery to sum
A spectacle to most
Providing little food for belly
Or thought
Still
Within arms reach
Yet outside rapt attention
Against the wall
Even rarer
A woman’s plate
Holding earthly delights
From seasons passed
A cache returned
From soil and toil
Yielding
A patience
Unseen by any human hospitality
As sun and seed conspire
As clearly as mud
Untrampled from above
Clan destined
To over-look
From whither
Rations aplenty
And from the gaunt let
Turn their eyes
And just
Beyond the pale
I specked
Return dimly
To one’s own moat
For a fort night
Never leaving port or ail
A thousands channels to sea
What can’t be seen everyday
Every day
Never the less
The woman sews
Yet another see’d
Acquainted with empty plates
And those by which continents are divided
She undertakes the tectonic shift
In udder silence
As the upper crust
Takes
Up
The mantle
Picturing itself free
Ingeniously framed
Buy empty plates
With dancing tales
I have long been fascinated by the often sharp and surreal contrasts between the inane and the meaningful. In post-modern times, it seems that inane distractions are reaching all-time highs on a daily basis. Still, the generous forces of nature and creativity counter such head-bobbing and rubber-necking with constant access to simple and awesome pleasures to participate in as co-creators. In this poem, growing and eating one’s own food is that tectonic shift that will change the world, though perhaps at an imperceptibly slow pace to all but those with the largest perspectives. I am grateful that it is more than possible to surf such tectonic shifts and still be well grounded!
Also, in case you missed it, I choose a woman to represent those connected with the forces of creation. Women do most of the work in the world, including most of the underpaid and unpaid work in the world. We all owe a debt to them. THANK YOU!
