trustable

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I’m not sure whether this poem works, but it seemed worth a shot.

trustable

was the word I heard
the syllabic rhythm sent

my mind dancing into
the past to find

uncrustable

a made up word for
a prepackaged PB&J

designed to say the artful
care of cutting off crusts

takes too much time

care however takes time
so does trust or listening

the prepackaged politics
that polarize us make it

too easy to cut each other off

we are more than a blue-red binary
better than agreeing to disagree

for too long we have pretended
the hard parts aren’t there

pampered ourselves with privilege

but if we are to be trustable
to those we have cut away

life must become more riskable
complicated conversational

don’t talk with your mouth full

Peace,
Milton

6 COMMENTS

  1. You once said the problem with “circles”…including certain people in them and excluding certain people from them…is that the circle inevitably gets smaller. The smaller the circle gets, the greater the chance you’ll find yourself outside the circle…either by definition or rule. Our circles need to be bigger. Never forgot that lesson Milton!

  2. The poem works. Thanks for your good words. I am visiting friends who are always Trumpers and I am not. We avoid politics for the most part but it is hard. We are still good friends.

  3. Love it, Milton. And just look how odd that “sandwich” actually looks — all perfectly round and white and crustless. Fake, manufactured, and needing a good crimp to hold it’s self together. Hmmm…?!

  4. Well done! The image is fresh for me as I clean up crusts left behind by one or more of my five little grandchildren. And as my heart feels the awareness of the pain of those cut out and left behind. Like Julianne wrote, a good mixture of whimsy and profound. Thank you.

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