[image: pitchfork.com]

Dare to Dream

Have you ever dreamt of bean soup?
I have.
How unimaginative, how uncreative could
I have possibly been about a bean?
Beans are not the sole source of that
Sudden and irresistible urge known far
And wide as the fart.
Still they foment gases in ungodly masses
The expulsion of which is insanely
And embarrassingly pleasant…
They are also a source of protein known
Far and wide by the poor.
They are cheap except for those with
No money.
They have a wonderful taste except for
Those who aspire to asparagus and
Caviar and things that actually taste awful.
I dream of beans when I’m hungry
And lonely
I mean when I am really hungry and
Desperately lonely
And they are therefore a friend to those
At the low end of the socioeconomic scale
A goal of sorts that even the poorest can
Ultimately achieve and find comfort in
A large vat of them that is warm and inviting
Is too irresistible for me
I am in among their numbers floating in a slow
And glowing happiness that I did not know
While awake
Why such an obsession with the bean?
Whence comes this connection to simplicity
At the gut level so to speak?
Perhaps it is a reminder that
Survival is an instinct that is best understood
When life is challenged and
We have fallen back into the biological abyss
Where imagination is the last refuge
Of the downtrodden
When we have been stripped of our
Dignity by an uncaring world
And hunger has us in a death grip
That forces us to awaken with
Determination to fight again.