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From section 5, The Justice, of Saltian
Rich man, poor man
By Alice Shapiro
Wise owls hoot and saw fine proverbs
wise-asses crow loud as a neighbor’s chanticleer
or speak sly like Pharisees before the cleansing.
The satiated merchant
rests upon his brocade chair
goaded on by hangers-on.
Having gathered wealth and fame
he crosses arms above his bloated gut
not knowing if his friend is present
for a tat advice and fine chatter
or duty for a share of this man’s money cache.
As if from a deep black hole
alone, he looks back wondering:
Given this poor end
would a different path
have provided satisfaction,
a wife and children
instead of boundless circles
of sycophants?
Too late. It is done, this career.
He awaits another stage to appear
to teach elusive, unachievable perfection.
Critique
By Carlene Tejada
This poem increases my respect for Alice Shapiro’s word choice. She doesn’t need long and wordy descriptions. In the 1st stanza, “sly” gives the image of officials whispering behind columns. In the 2nd stanza, “brocade” suggests the decorative environment of the wealthy. In the 3rd stanza, “circles of sycophants” suggest a medieval court filled with needy, easily disloyal subjects. The imagery is further enhanced by the repetition of long and strong vowel sounds and initial and internal consonance. I am uncomfortable with the first two lines because nature and the barnyard do not fit the exotic tone of the following line and stanzas. The word “tat” refers to a specific kind of needlework and seems out of place here.
Like Alice’s other poems, this one trembles with ambiguity. Does “another stage … unachievable perfection” refer to an afterlife or to the merchant’s hope that it’s not “Too late” and another stage could bring him closer to perfection? I’m reminded of wealthy, aging Buddhists who give away their riches and wander the countryside holding a begging bowl. Is that what awaits the merchant? Is this when he expects to be taught “unachievable perfection” or must he wait for lessons in Heaven or Hell? Certainly, by our contemporary standards, perfection won’t be found in Shakespeare’s “last scene of all … Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”
What price has the merchant/justice paid for wisdom, fame and wealth? Is it true wisdom if in the latter stages of life he lacks progeny and true friends? He has lived selfishly and still thinks only of himself as he faces the next phase.
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After divorce and empty nest, Carlene Tejada faced the future armed with an MA in English literature, a BA in teaching English as a second language, and years of editing and teaching experience. Only then did she feel she had the time and focus to take her lifelong fascination with writing seriously. More than anything she wanted “a body of work.”
Carlene moved many times but always found writing groups. For several years she led journal-writing workshops (and still does). She experimented with short stories, and in drafting a novel she discovered a lack of patience and imagination for writing fiction. At friends’ suggestions, she read works by several contemporary poets and was drawn to writing poetry. Poems became the “body of work” she was working for. Blue Pearls: Poems came out in 2010; she is now working on poems for a second book.
