NaPoWriMo Poem for April 21

The Nutritional Vacuum

Some things are put in food
To make it look or taste better.

The hue of the paint that is used for the interior of some prisons
Is chosen to induce docility.

Prior to the digital enhancement of photos
A popular men’s magazine would apply
An all-purpose surface cleaner to the flesh of their nude models
In order to enhance the sheen.

Recently it was discovered that the weekend’s worth of love donations
Of a television evangelist
Was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Many of us think that those rectangles of paper
With a certain ink pattern on them
Have intrinsic value.

Some of us make patterns of our own
And a rat-a-tat-tap noise as we make them
And then a clicking noise
That sends the patterns out into the world

And we hope our patterns are translated
Into a connection with others.
Why?
Because, as comfort- and contact-seeking animals,
We need one another,
And as emotional, desperate expressives,
We want to feel,
And what we feel to be felt by others,
And understood,
And acknowledged.

Serving Size 1 Post
Servings Per Container 1

Calories 0
Total Fat 0g*
Cholesterol 0mg

Dietary Fiber 0g

Protein 0g

* disputed