ANOTHER ORPHAN POEM

1
Ever since money was invented
there have been rich people
and
poor people.

How much later
do you suppose
that locks were invented?
Did a poor person
lying awake at night
see
a vision
that would enable him
to protect
his things.

Like Kekule's snake,
he saw a twig turning
in an arrangement:
a hunter tinkering with his trap.

2
I think about Rumi often.
Things were not so great
back then either.
Konya is very cold in the winter.
The wind blows out of Asia
like the hordes,
freezing the oil in its cruet.

O Rumi,
how did you learn
about Love,
the Friend visible
and invisible.

Every day, Love is
less palpable to me,
Empire's perennial traps
ever more luxuriant.

3
And I think of you, Rumi.
What did you think of
to generate loving thoughts?
Memories, the reality of robins
playing in the spring tulips,
wild, like dragon's blood?

If I find the right thought
to turn my arrangement,
will I discover the reality
of Love,
that word that
means
so much
and nothing.?

Amor, amor, amor
lieben und arbeiten
Perhaps the Italians
have it clearer:
Ti voglio bene, tanto bene
the men would yell
on the back streets
and water ways
of Venice.
So often these days
I don't have
the animal
or floral strength
to wish myself well.

4
Who's in charge here?
Who do I address
as Prayer Mother
for some comforting?
It's so dark and cold here
even the mice
have gone to bed,
while the moths
eat holes in the heart space
of my sweaters.....

Anna McCarthy
Poverty Pudding Spring 2000
(return to the Poet Corral)