a study in ambition
(working on it)

a study
in ambition
because I think it is
a one-by-one thing
and not a group
thing
except by change
now and then

the space race
a national ambition
and was it

I was a child
I don’t recall contributing
except with attitude
and I was
child

someone spent a bunch of money
making things
sacrificing
lives
so we could
go to the moon

and I was there
before the television
for the launch
then on the day
to see
the landing
then the steps

and would say
that was great
and was it
even then
as
I wondered
about people starving
wherever

trick-or-treating
for UNICEF
and all
the smaller things

good for the economy
the space race
microwaves
ballpoint pens
tin foil
(well
aluminum)

okay
and now it’s easier to see
that vanity
is pushing us
back to the moon
and higher
on to Mars

wanting
to respect that
and then wondering
again
about the starving people
and maybe we won’t have
any safe water
or a safe Earth
with no space on the moon
or Mars
for all of us

I do think
Pangloss is wrong
and that it’s good when we
consider things
together

but the dreams must be owned
and we must have them
one by one
and study us
each one

learning
growing
getting
each thing owned
by one
and then we can think about
negotiation
and a kind
of communion

maybe
if we
simply had a planet
whole
each one satisfied
to live
and to consider

as it is
we will go
we will do anything
beyond the one
for money
for politics to win
for
another one
claiming to be a party
let alone a nation
or a national
ambition

ambition is good
not the way
that fictively we say
that greed
is good
because it’s not
but in the way
that use of us
by one
by one
and then we’ll see
is good

that energy is good
and its
expenditure
even a joy
sometimes

that use is good
and better when
compelled by good
dreams
virtues
and such

but that what is Earth
is finite
and each one
in our systems
and so there’s saving
even caution
to employ

so feed us
end our thirst
let each one work
and also
dream
envision something real
for a dream

c l couch


energy is eternal delight (William Blake)
who also wrote of embracing contradictions

photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash