Off the Shelf

By J. Paulson

Do you think city people
Need poetry more than
Country ones?

In the country,
Poems grow green
And wild

Are breathed in
With the jasmine
And crocus

Are felt underfoot
Between fingers
Behind the knee

Are whispered eye to eye
Hand to hand
Mouth to ear

City ears are preoccupied
Hands in pocket
Eye to shoes

City people read poems
Preserved in books
Like canned beans

Out loud in coffeehouses
Missionaries’ slides
Of far off lands

“Look at the wildflower petals;” and
“Here’s the taste of plums
From the tree”