Imbecile Rapacity

Gold cherry
Poem of the week

By Ewan

Mon, 09 Dec 2019
  • 2788 reads
10 comments
 

In the evening murk

- let’s not call it gloaming,

twilight or any number

of side-spun words -

the bright-coloured lights

in shop windows

tempt the weary.

All that’s glitter

can be sold.

 

We step over, around and away

from the pile of blankets and rags

in the doorway of the shop that closed

only last week.

 

The pile stirs and we move still quicker,

fiercely scared in case this disease is catching.

Who knows? It might be:

a contagion of poverty.

 

The glass in shop windows

has been decorated

by shattered kaleidoscopes.

The colour distracts,

entices – we’ll buy what

no-one needs -

rather than drop

a penny in the old man’s hat.

Certificate U
Poem
Days Like These
Miscellaneous

Comments

Submitted by drew_gummerson on

Worth it just for this:

"All that’s glitter

can be sold"

 

A great turn of a phrase. 

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Yes, a very telling turn of phrase for the fragility of glitter happiness being hawked.
Though a penny seems such a little 'drop in the ocean' of his need. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Ewan on

 Not even a penny. Grim.

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

Agree with drew's pick above - so moving. It's been interesting reading your poetry since you got back. How long since you lived in the UK before this time?

 

Submitted by Ewan on

 15 years in Spain all told. I made annual visits home, but you're too busy to notice things,really.

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

This exceptionally moving piece of poetry is our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day!
Do share this one, and if you have a vote, please use it wisely.

 

Submitted by celticman on

I like this for obvious reasons, one of them being...Tory...[stick a swearword of your choice here] 

 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Spot on, Ewan. Sums it up. Plenty of that going on here. I predict a move to differentiate homo sapiens before too long.

I don't predict change any time soon. Not from the evidence around me.

Good pick.

Parson Thru

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

This is our Poem of the Week - Congratulations!

 

Submitted by agnosticnun on

Beautiful writing, grim subject. It's the same over here.

Kristi