You Say You Want To Simplify

Draft 1

You say you want to simplify;
life is too hectic,
pressured,
insane.
You yearn for less,
so you detest the new, too-close houses,
protest the proposed, too-close store
and the too many new neighbors--
as if the issues are more simple
than when neighbors protested and detested you.
You say you want to simplify,
yet you say it looking to the floor--
as if nobody here is in charge.

You Say You Want To Simplify

Bob Komives

Draft 2

You say you want to simplify,
and you will--
someday soon.
But, today,
there is so much money
and so little time to build
what everyone wants,
what the marketplace demands.
(Damn those who would protest and detest!)
Today there are the kids to get through college,
the liability insurance,
and the mortgage on the new house
with the giant kitchen that you hope to use
during the more simple times ahead.
Every day you say,
"This rat race must end someday."
You say you want to simplify.
You say it through a portable telephone,
yet you say it looking to the sky--
as if nobody here is in charge.



Draft 3

You say you want to simplify,
to ecologize,
yet you drive this off-road,
four-wheel-drive,
chrome beauty
that guzzles and spews all over town
and never leaves the highway--
but leaves you with the option and the image.
This beauty might help you through a snowstorm
when you might better stay at home--
stay off the road,
act humbly before your mother nature
who says,
"A better off-road vehicle
"would encourage you to keep off the roads."
Oh, but yours is pretty,
has status,
and looks "back-to-the-earth".
You say you want to ecologize,
yet your trusted, rusted truck takes you
to where you want to be,
to what you want to be,
when you want to show
at the rally to protect the river
and keep the rascal developer
from building more houses like your own--
houses for new romantic ecologizers
with more off-road,
four-wheel-drive,
chrome beauties,
streamlined coaches,
and trusted, rusted trucks.
More new neighbors,
(kindred spirits)
who pursue your dream
and wonder why
(as hard as they try)
they too don't catch it.



Draft 4

You say you want to simplify,
yet you send your kid to private school,
(a damn good school)
quite expensive enough
to make you earn more money
and need a better, bigger, streamlined coach
to drive him
(and his friends of yours)
back and forth,
and then to soccer practice
and music lessons.
Yet you wonder why
life does not simplify.
Your kid is at fault.
Thank god you don't have four or five!
How did they manage in the olden days
(a few decades ago)
when you were a kid
and life was more simple,
and you walked,
took a bus,
rode your bike
without a loving, nagging parent at your side
(always there for you)
when you are needed.
It must have been a miracle back then.
But your mom did nothing important,
and your dad was nobody important,
and your house was no place special--
except maybe home.
But even the hard life seemed more simple,
and none among you was perfect.
It is so damn complex
to make life perfect these days,
if not for you,
(no, yes, yes perfect for you, but especially)
for your kid who will be forever indebted
for all you have done for him:
sacrifice,
stress,
unhappiness
so he could have a simple life--
and, perhaps, recognize it.
An example would be nice.
Freedom too would be nice for him,
to be imperfect,
to get lost,
to fool around,
to get around on his two feet,
on the public street,
that public school
of complex evolution,
sticks and stones,
strange tones,
the place where adults and children develop.



Draft 5

You say you want to simplify,
yet you dry your just-wet hair
with a hot, electric blower.
And you want to remove
(for a moment)
the leaves from your walk
with a cold, electric blower.
Don't you know,
real men don't blow their hair dry,
and real women aren't supposed to be sissies.
At least, they weren't and didn't
when man and woman were "boy and girl",
and they looked sexy in damp hair
and looked romantic on leaf-covered walks.
So, you say you want to simplify,
then call the Center For Disease Control
to find out who ever died,
(or even caught a sniffle)
from stepping out
in the cool of autumn
under damp hair,
or, for that matter,
under wet hair
in the dead of winter.
So, conduct a sweepers-and-blowers race
on your local sidewalk.
Watch the blowers come in third
and the sweepers come in second
to the walking, damp-haired cruncher
who passes them by--
enjoying the comic scene
while enjoying the simple crunch
of leaves under her feet.
Then ask the damp-haired cruncher
to open and show them the one-small bag
she packs along on her extended travels.
Then hear them whisper:
"There must be a trick.
"She is secretly rich--
"has a rich lover.
"How else could she make it look so simple?"



Draft 6

You say you want to simplify,
purify and purge,
yet you park your combusting motor
twenty-nine feet from your exercise club,
your health club--
what a body!
All those bodies covered with sweat!
How many dollars per drop?
How much asphalt to park the car bodies,
trucks,
fetishes?
How much energy to air condition your arrival?
Because it would be too simple
to sweat your way there,
walk there,
run there,
ride there on your beautiful muscle power.
So, you want to simplify,
then hang a sign on your clubhouse door:
"!If You Drove Here You Do Not Belong!"
Do that, and it won't be long
before people blush
as they walk in from the parking lot,
(chins down)
sneak in,
apologize.
It won't be much longer
before they walk in
(chins up)
from their houses,
from their offices,
from their playgrounds
a couple of miles away.
And not much longer
until they get together to proclaim:
"City Law Forbids Motor Parking
"With Intent To Enter A Health Club."
Now, you have started a revolution:
healthy clubs,
healthy people,
simple people,
and a few public showers,
(and private showers)
and climbing towers
simply placed
along the ways where we like to sweat.



Final Draft

You say you want to simplify,
purify and purge,
ecologize,
survive.
Life is too hectic.
You yearn for less.
OK.
Look ahead!
Good luck!
Send a postcard!
You are in charge.

Bob Komives :: Fort Collins © 1996 :: You Say You Want To Simplify :: ,9621