Poetry Sunday

One of my additional duties at the office is managing our bottled water fund ... I place the orders, receive the deliveries, and pay the bills. And then comes the fun part - getting my coworkers to come up with their share of the cost. Truth to tell, everybody pays up*, but it's become a tradition over the years for everyone to compete for the best complaint about the cost of the water and my incessant demands for payment: they can't feed their families, their children have to go to public rather than private schools, they can't afford the operation the baby needs, etc, etc. One of the folks actually paid his $4.00 share of the bill one month with four single dollar bills, each carefully origami-folded into a little t-shirt or kimono ... symbolic of my taking the shirt from his back.

Imagine, then, my joy when I actually found a poem about bottled water ...

Bottled Water

by Kim Dower

I go to the corner liquor store
for a bottle of water, middle
of a hectic day, must get out
of the office, stop making decisions,
quit obsessing does my blue skirt dash
with my hot pink flats; should I get
my mother a caregiver or just put her
in a home, and I pull open the glass
refrigerator door, am confronted
by brands—Arrowhead, Glitter Geyser,
Deer Park, spring, summer, winter water,
and clearly the bosses of bottled water:
Real Water and Smart Water—how different
will they taste? If I drink Smart Water
will I raise my IQ but be less authentic?
If I choose Real Water will I no longer
deny the truth, but will I attract confused,
needy people who'll take advantage
of my realness by dumping their problems
on me, and will I be too stupid to help them
sort through their murky dilemmas?
I take no chances, buy them both,
sparkling smart, purified real, drain both bottles,
look around to see is anyone watching?
I'm now brilliantly hydrated.
Both real and smart my insides bubble
with compassion and intelligence
as I walk the streets with a new swagger,
knowing the world is mine.

Drink up. You don't have to pay for this water.

This afternoon Agnes and I will be heading over to Dance Studio Lioudmila in Alexandria, where I'll be emceeing their Spring Showcase. I hate to have to stay indoors on a nice Spring day, but if you've got to sacrifice such a day for any reason, dancing is a good one.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* Eventually.