What Matters Most Is Love And Peace Poem by RIC BASTASA

you keep on saying that
what matters most is love and peace
and then we manage to eke out
a living for ourselves
then what matters
is hunger
we listen to the sound
of our complaining bellies
asking for rice
and fish
because there is only water from the river
odored foul
by these dead mudfishes
now my dear
find me a place where i can sleep
where i can chant
my pleadings to our gods
so they may answer
our little complaints

love and peace you keep saying that
please prove that to me
on this hunger
and poverty
convince
me