From The Book Of Answers... Poem by RIC BASTASA

in this society
if you have a name
whatever you do
becomes a masterpiece

pablo picasso for
instance drawing a simple
body of a fat woman
or a thin cat, using
kindergarten lines of a mere pencil

everyone says wow wow wow
like an ambulance rushing a 50/50 victim
to the hospital

so if senor pablo neruda doubts
whether a rose is naked or dressed
(which to me is not a hard
question to answer)by our standards
a dress is a dress and not
a petal ora leaf,

i may sound so silly, but my God
for a moment, will there be a child
here
who says that that emperor is really
naked?