Making a Living

its method
is men
the fact
and the game
disorder
grounded
expressed
real named
the facts of life
the planet
its field
 
the same day
vehicles
lived by the masses
become
contemplative
attitudes
powered by
the joys of this world
a glorious sign
propagated with
lightning speed
 
at the same time
its goal
the use of time
the speed of transport
the margin of life
the rational
journeys
by another path
none of it bad
 
the work
from his world
themselves
rediscovers nature
its essential green
easily seen through
like a window
but intimate
like a summer meadow

as a result
cold dreams
draw misty truths
to the surface
official forgetfulness
looks back on
and chooses
to forget
the first half of
to focus discussion on
the second half
like "I'm fine"
as a journey
all to itself
and beautiful
to the voyager
particularly

this service
its servants
our passage of time
vanishes quickly
like a leaf
its eulogy
a terrestrial paradise
the very spirit of
the renaissance
to act
on the basis of

an obsession with death

well,
death

pronounce it
be-u-ti-full
slowly revealed
to eliminate
this lived time
men live in
sea turtles
to the laws
 

Copyright Credit: Ted Greenwald, "Making a Living" from Common Sense. Copyright © 2016 by Ted Greenwald.  Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.
Source: Common Sense (Wesleyan University Press, 2016)