Friday, November 09, 2007

Poetry Friday -- A Meditation on Consumerism

I give you the middle stanza. Here is the whole poem, which begins with apples and ends with a dog.

The Necessary Brevity of Pleasures
by Samuel Hazo

***
Call it a tug-of-war between enough and more
than enough, between sufficiency
and greed, between the stay-at-homers
and globe-trotting see-the-worlders.
Like lovers seeking heaven in excess,
the hopelessly insatiable forget
how passion sharpens appetites
that gross indulgence numbs.
Result?
The haves have not
what all the have-nots have
since much of having is the need
to have.
***

The round-up is at a wrung sponge.

6 comments:

  1. "Even my dog knows that..." Oh, how I love the ending to this poem.

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  2. Love the dog slumbering in a moon of sunlight, and the poem's overall message. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. "The haves have not what all the have-nots have since much of having is the need to have."

    Too true. Thanks for this one.

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  4. wow. I need to read this one a couple more times.

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  5. Anonymous10:02 AM

    That makes twice this week I've read that poem, and what a treat both times!

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  6. This is my diet poem - also read twice this week. The necessary brevity of pleasures -- as in, stop eating, and food will be even better!

    Even dogs know this!

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