My father called it “drinking wine labels,”
That dependence people have on abstract,
Authoritative, and sometimes even huffy
Credentials. They use these then for backing up
The judgments that are anything but their own.
At least the wine crowd sees the point of tasting
Blind, but who would risk a life of such,
Pretensions always jeopardized, status
Often trepidated by the worry:
On this or that occasion I just might soon be
Stark-exposed as blind as any bat.
There are the yard sale stories, some random piece
Made masterpiece by a simple attribution of some
Pedigree. The object’s still the same
But someone’s rich – I’ll drink to that.
And after this, we know a little
More about what we might
As well accept for granted.
