What Holds Things Together? Poem by Raj Arumugam

What holds things together?
He thought
his passions and his interests held things together.
He thought he was resourceful and strong
and that did the trick for him. He thought
his resilience and his training held things for him.


What holds things together?
Something he never reckoned
had such importance;
losing reality over time in comfort
something he had taken for granted.
Because if you're in a city
and survive dependent in an economy,
there's only one thing
that holds things together. A job. He didn't know this till he had given it up in one place
hoping to get it in another.
Because if you're in a city you either create a job as entrepreneurs do, or get a job as a survivor.





(from The Migrant - notes of a newcomer (February 1997- July 1998))