Rhetoric and Reality

Rhetoric and Reality

Although the match of style to subject was a trick
the Ancients had, their rhetoric
could not encompass daily lives.
That was too low. Their wives
(or servants) dealt with the thoughts
they overlooked: who, for example, bought
the milk; how much a pound of steak,
a bowl of rice, cost; who will have to take
the children to the dentist and
what money passes hand to hand.
But why not write about the specificity
of bills? Explain electricity
for ironing clothes this month is just
too much because the insurance must
be paid; capture the ways that water
and warmth, bricks and mortar,
cost, and how a clever way
with words depends on someone's pay.