An Explanation Of Communism Poem by adam lizakowski

An Explanation of Communism

“You were born in a communist country.”
“Yes…”
“Please describe in what ways there is a difference
Between communism and capitalism
“There is more lyricism and metaphysics.
There, poetry is inspiration,
Reaching with its roots into the culture
Of antiquity, the general worth of Man,
And into optimism and the portrayal of the ideal…
Amidst capitalism, poets right of exploitation
Of Man by Man.
Creation is for the most part decadent.
The Western man lives on something resembling a desert,
A wasteland. He is touched by the erosion of the religious mind,
Even though he is allowed to believe in God.
Matter and the description of things dominate…”
“Please provide an example.”
“An example…”
“Yes, an example…”
“Please imagine a butcher shop
In one of the communist countries,
For instance Poland.
One chicken, five shop girls,
And fifty people in cue
In a butcher shop.

“Or let us say in America
At office X, and therein eight windows,
And of those only two opened ones,
And twenty persons patiently
Waiting in cue.

Seeing the difference
Is but a matter of imagination.