Scott Simpson · Poetry
IV. Accumulation
The World We Mean · Culture, Memory, and Shared Meaning · Singing · IV. Accumulation
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Poem segment 1
IV. Accumulation
Most participation is small.
A sentence repeated online.
A rumor passed quietly
between coworkers near the copier.
What you laugh at.
What you ignore.
Which story you decide
deserves retelling.
These choices seem minor.
But culture is sedimentary.
Layer after layer
settling invisibly over time.
A gesture becomes custom.
A phrase becomes doctrine.
A joke becomes atmosphere.
No single snowfall
creates the drift
blocking the road by morning.
The field is shaped gradually.
By millions of small permissions.
By what we continue carrying
without examining the weight.
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