I didn’t have a lot of time today to respond to the “instead of …” prompt at Read Write Poem or the “Poem Title” prompt at Poetic Asides. I’m tearing down and rebuliding the farm chapter in my ethnographic memoir on Nepal and also, coincidentally, designing a website for the farm I worked on. 
Trying to stay focused, I let a poem emerge from these projects. Perhaps it will also feed deeper insight back into them. The inspiration for the title comes from Billy Collins poem, “Questions About Angels.”
___________________________________________
Questions About Anthropology
In Nepal,
instead of asking
why
Shiva holds a trident,
his son wears the head
of an elephant,
Kali drools blood,
and
children
go hungry
drinking
coca-cola;
I learned to kneel
beside elders
and push my hands
into the soil.
I found the answers
I needed
in seeds
sprouting.
________________________________________
ah–the universal truth! Lovely.
Your poem reminds me that there are many parts of the world where people don’t have enough to eat whilst others (despite economic downturns) have food to waste. How best to feed the world has to be the most important question.
ya truth of the world….sure is sad
Lovely. Something about touching the earth has a way of opening us.
So very touching and pointedly expressed.
very zen in thought and emotion.
What a beautiful poem on a part of the world we tend to forget about!
http://lori102870.blogspot.com/2009/04/procrastinationnapowrimo-15by-tlb.html
What a treat to rediscover you writing poetry.
Kath, what a surprise to see a comment from you here. It’s been awhile. I mostly write creative nonfiction but started experimenting with poems to break out of some bad prose habits. Now I’m beginning to enjoy poetry for itself – quite a revelation.