Really Good Words - Aug 26 2023

 

Really Good Words

Aug 26 2023

Really good words

roll off the tongue

as if their meaning was obvious.

Abundance, for one

feels fat and smug

and more than enough.

But I think it's what's wrong with the world;

too much choice

indulgence

waste.

Because sometimes, less is more.

Sometimes, settling is best

and ambition consumes itself.

Sometimes, enough is enough

why run up the score?

And sometimes, there are too many words

and you need to cut it short.

This poem is not only a gentle condemnation of our consumer society, which can't help but promote waste, but also an expression of what's been called “The Paradox of Too Much Choice.” Which is true: contrary to what one would intuitively think, more choice makes us less happy, not more. It can be paralyzing. But even more, it plays on our aversion to loss: more choice means it's more likely you could have made the wrong one, left the best alternative on the table.

I guess my objection to indulgence is more moralistic: that I'm more comfortable with stoicism and self-denial than hedonism and greed.

The bottom line is that at this time in the developed world we are swimming in a material abundance that's unprecedented in the history of mankind But at the same time, there is an epidemic of unhappiness and loneliness, let alone a climate emergency.

The final 2 lines are meant as a mild elbow jab into my own ribs. I feel my poems are always too long. Too many words. Why else would the short and sweet ones be pretty much all my favourites? Not so easy for someone as prolix as me! Too much to say, when most often it's better to say just one thing.