According to the Study

The rich report greater levels of happiness,

                                          & the study goes on to demonstrate

how we humans use money to save ourselves,

                      first from starving, then danger, & finally, from

                                                          our neighbors,

the rich solving so thoroughly

                      for the stinks & noise

                                          of other stinky, noisy people.

Granted, my research is anecdotal,

            but calls to mind the subtle shadows inside the Spanish word

                              aislar, meaning both to insulate & isolate. I’ve known

the rich, & gladly tap danced for their parties, double fisted

            at their open bars, gorged myself in paneled corners

                      on blue crab puffs, content to be

                                          rented for those hours, performing a toothlessly

                                                                                          arty tone.

I’ve studied them & coveted, glued my invisible price tags

            to their Hermès & Baccarat, smiled as the servants’ door

                                          banged repeatedly against an

                                                                          original Renoir.

My personal findings reveal

            their Wi-Fi doesn’t work either. So, old, or new,

                      in the flavor of their aloneliness,

                                                          the rich are pretty much the same.

But unlike the surplus population,

            they need a solitude specially made, designed to be airy,

                                          capacious, with hand-blown acoustics

                                                                                      to amplify their silences.

From Water Mill to Malibu, observe their fortresses

                      steeled above the beach front, how their fences each year appear

                                          a little steeper, while still sinking farther

                                                                                                  into the swale.

Imagine the comforts of the rich,

                      the repose in knowing we all die alone,

                                          but to do so with such

                                                          enviable lighting

                                                                          & desirably peopleless views.