Polished Wood Is Polished Wood

No meek charity would suffice to break
this bleak impasse, no make-and-mend
missionary could contend with the intensity
of feelings engendered; it is beyond earthy

intervention. I have no desire to lend an
unguent hand – the case is damned, so be
it, good riddance. In the beginning it was
said unity mattered more than our selves

individual skills or recognition; that soured
in seconds when cheers and jeers beckoned,
fed egos and fostered fat personality cults
that rendered austere, self-effacing diets dead.

We live in an era of aspirant celebrities, a culture
of couture, a false veneer. There is a reverence
for froth and bubble that defeats commonsense
– a drear culture of image management.

I hear the claims that beneath the gloss
and hype there is still good. Forgive me
if I scoff and say, by choice - polished wood
is polished wood.
© 2007-02-25, I.D. Carswell