Where Need Meets Love

 I love things I don't need:

colorful umbrellas and countless pairs of socks
too many cardigans, too many cups of coffee
ice cream, salty potato chips
small glass jars and tiny seed beads
shiny copper wire, wind up toys
red microfiber flats that pinch my feet 
and balls of super-soft yarn I don't even know how to knit
I love so many things that I don't really need.

I need things I don't love:
blood pressure medicine and beets
plastic, so many things packaged in plastic
car insurance and fossil fuels
computers, social media
the job that requires social media and what passes for "news" on the internet
money from the job that needs social media and the internet
to pay for all the plastic and fossil fuels and insurance
I need many things I really don't love.

Where love and need meet is where truth happens:
lively flame and its living heat
wise trees, serene shade
cleansing rain and clean flowing water
wild wind and calm breath
innocent children, cynical adults
families made up of twos and threes and communities
different and alike, teeming with thoughts and emotions
making truth where need meets love.

This poem was written and published in September, 2020 and a certain search engine monopoly which shall not be named deemed it "dangerous," slapped a glaring red warning page on it asking anyone clicking the link whether they wanted to proceed to such a clearly volatile website, and informed me that "phishing was involved," which it in no way was. To skirt this issue, I have unpublished and republished it here. I am unsure whether I should be furious with the absurd torpedoing of a poetry blog that certainly qualifies as obscure or if I should be flattered to have been deemed dangerous by the powers that be.