Baskets as Political Statements

The basket sits in the morning sun.
Simple. Beautiful. But empty.
Behind it, another. Larger.
Just as empty.

Both Shaker-made.
Acts of worship in the making.
As close to perfect
As old hands can make them.

Works of art. Both of them.
But empty. You sigh. Sigh again.
There is still work to be done.
Apples to gather. People to be fed.

No matter the battles
over who deserves to be fed
and who does not,
there is work to be done,

and in the gathering
and in the giving
you make your stand.
Quiet. Forgiving. Unrelenting.

It will cost you, the giving of love.
It always does. But it is the only act
that builds. That saves. That keeps
it all from falling apart.

And so you take your basket.
The big one.
There is work to be done.

About this poem.

I have, slowly and steadily in my life, moved towards a politic of love. Making me way, way in the minority. I can deal with that.

The picture was taken at the Hancock Shaker Villiage in Hancock, Massachusetts.

Tom