Want and Plenty
Want and Plenty
Linda McCullough Moore
When I was growing up, if my father sold a car
- one of 57 jobs he held across a cut-short lifetime –
he would go out and buy a hundred jars of applesauce,
as many cans of peas and jars of peanut butter. Staples
- the word confused me; though applesauce I understood.
We were poor. The whole family. Even the kids.
Food wasn't always, in the place I used to live.
Children live there now, they may sit down to meals
more scant than any I remember, eat and hunger still.
Satiety: the word of no use in oh so many houses.
I am not longer poor, uncomfortably comfortable:
that is, wealth never being quite enough. I'm talking
about want and plenty. I’m talking about too much
and far too little. I’m saying there is nothing
we cannot forget once trouble’s gone away. And,
I am speculating that when Jesus said to share,
he wasn't writing rules or making a suggestion;
when Jesus said remember, he was telling us
to not forget; when Jesus said to feed the poor,
he was giving us his home address.
Linda McCullough Moore
Author
Linda is the author of two story collections, a novel, an essay collection and more than 350 shorter published works. She is the winner of the Pushcart Prize, as well as winner and finalist for numerous national awards. Her first story collection was endorsed by Alice Munro, and equally as joyous, she frequently hears from readers who write to say her work makes a difference in their lives. For many years she has mentored award-winning writers of fiction, poetry, and memoir. She is currently completing a novel, Time Out of Mind, and a collection of her poetry.
Photography by Nataliya Ischia