In economics, I learn that cost
has much more to do than just what we pay,
but what we lose as well.
Example 1.0
My dad asks me if I want to eat out with him for dinner,
and I tell him there’s not enough time.
A surplus of excuses keeps me at home.
I watch him pull out of the driveway,
the sound of the wheels over gravel and the
screeching garage door etched in my memory,
as I wave out the window like I always have,
wondering whether it was worth it.
At night, I wait for the phone call,
the knock on the door until the
sound of wheels and screeching
lullaby my heart to sleep.
Example 1.1
I paint myself a picture,
pastels and chalky white hues.
Pretty art is always nicer to look at.
Less stares, more photographs.
But time never lies and chips away
until paint is dirt beneath fingernails.
Example 1.2
Pride is a bitter pill, medicine we swallow
to nurse unbridled egos,
a numbing that goes down easiest in the throat.
A drop of Japanese blood.
An unjustified lie that still asks to be understood.
A dinner table for four, set for three.
An untouchable principle.
When do we face what’s killing us?
Example 1.3
I remember him looking at me, not with his eyes,
but with his hands, a blind grasp
reaching in desperate hunger,
weighing how little he could hold onto
without losing me.
Keynesian economics says,
“In the long run, we’re all dead.”
What cost do we pay?
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