What My Neighbor Says Poem by RIC BASTASA

not having money, he says
money does not matter really

having a little education he says
education matters a bit

for it is something that does not
tarnish like silver
something that does not decay
like organic flesh
something that termites cannot
eat like the walls and
beams of the house

not having any land he says
what is land but just enough for him to stay
something that is at most
only about six feet that he really needs

not having any intelligence
(i think he is a little dumb) he says
what matters most is just good deeds
the morality the ethical
the religious fervor of his being

i think he is wise enough to admit
(on this aspect, i may be ironic)
that what matters to him is only those
which he has

and since we have much
as a matter of sour-graping he says
at all, to be frank, to him
we do not really matter