The poem featured here is from Craig Kurtz who has written and performed poems since 1979. After 13 years on a hippie commune, he now lives and busks poetry a block from where Thomas Jefferson hung out in Charlottesville, Virginia (and trafficked slaves). Recent publications include Quadrant, Pacific Review, Stand Magazine, and the 2022 Rhysling Anthology.
“Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.” ― Oscar Wilde.
The disenchanted, I dare say,
have issues which they will inveigh;
they won’t be happy, nor they should,
until there is more greater good.
The satisfied, on the obverse,
don’t care for people who asperse;
they think when their glass is half full,
there’s no cause to be radical.
The pessimists, most hist’ry’s shown,
complain until the seeds are sown;
the seeds of progress for us all,
and not just swells at the masked ball.
The optimists say everything’s
OK, for those who pull the strings;
preventing the world’s improvement,
they’re why we need more discontent.
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