I walked among long tiger lilies
and rhododendron too.
Almost lost in shadows there,
an old round table sat unused.
There were no chairs or benches,
nor umbrella blocking sun.
I wondered to myself, “What purpose
does this object serve?”
Per Plato, Socrates once said
all objects that we name
exist outside our minds in
archetypal form.
I remember thinking as I read:
“What is the essence of a chair?
What kind of outline does that have?
Something spindly? Maybe blobby?”
Today, I think for “table” the
answer is more clear:
Something flat, about midriff,
or at least above the floor.
But “table” is much more than form.
Table is its function: how we
use the thing. Or, maybe all that’s lost
when use it we do not.
Round, square, high, low, long, short,
with chairs beside or not,
Invited to, excluded from, seated at or circled round,
piled with gifts, ... then flipped in rage??
Today I sit in chair, an empty table near.
No one sits across from me.
Once was chance for folks to share.
Now, no more. Exclude is why.
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Saturday, May 27th, 2017
Fennville
MI
USA
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