Vow On Poem by M.J. Lemon

I took a vow of poverty
not by design not by choice
but with the training wage in youth
that paved the way for the
minimum wage in my dotage
preventing retirement
and spurring my credit card
company to offer four
easy payments with affordable interest
for every grocery purchase

My neighbour's competitive
instinct arrived early in life
and introduced him to a vow
a vow of celibacy
By choice? Perhaps
through cultivated elegance
I refuse to judge though what
might that finger residing in his nose say?
Or the tracksuit worn at soirees?
Or the salad fork buried deep
in the dumpling left
at the bottom of the soup bowl?

What screams at the family dinner
more than the host
irate at and about
the politics spilling out of mouths
as wine flushes in?
The toddler about to celebrate
a second birthday?
The cousin whose devotion
to his hometown sports heroes
cannot be left unheralded?
The nagging aunt
who asks
Can't you get
a real job or at least
Be more like your neighbour?
It is the silent prayer
a summons for the
vow of silence