Andrew James Menken: ‘Less Is More’

Less Is More

Rip that carpet up from your hardwood floor;

give the walls a fresh coat of plain white paint;

the best advice you’ll receive: less is more.

Monolithic homes encroach on a shore

where waves meet them like an unyielding saint.

Rip that carpet up from your hardwood floor.

Prune back those trees so sunlight can restore

hope to gardens drowning in dark complaint. 

The best advice you’ll receive: less is more.

A silence swallows the unholy roar

of traffic when the last engine grows faint.

Rip that carpet up from your hardwood floor.

Remove the windows and unhinge the door,

let your blood be stirred by winds sharp as flint. 

The best advice you’ll receive: less is more.

The carpenter ants assemble before

night furnishes day with its starry glint. 

Rip that carpet up from your hardwood floor;

the best advice you’ll receive: less is more.

Andrew James Menken