Useless

This week, I started working on a new luc bat poem. Luc bat is a Vietnamese form of poetry I learned about a few years ago. Since I’ve got luc bat on the brain, I decided to post a luc bat poem from my second book, Event Horizon, entitled “Useless.”

Useless

I’m glad some people care
for needful things like where flushing
toilets empty.  Ringing 
phones must connect speaking voices
or become quite pointless.
Shoppers must have choices of goods
so supply chains all should
function.  Our garbage would really
pile up if not quickly 
collected.  So we need systems
and those who design them.
While such people are gems, I’m just 
not one of them.  I must
admit, it’s hard to trust that I
matter when most folks prize
utility.  While I feel like
I should care about bike
lanes, health care, and turnpikes, I find
I don’t.  I guess I’m kind
of useless.  I’ve a mind to know
where wind comes from and goes;
to wonder whether snowflakes are
flurries of falling stars;
to sit and hear the dark tongue of 
echoes in moonlight.  But
God feeds and cares for the sparrow,
not just out of narrow
utility, but so they might
spring from a branch in flight,
singing in the sunlight for Him.