Late Lumpyism

The body accrues supplies.
Kin can accrue more supplies.
If supplies can be measured,

There’s a measure of success.
If that success is envied,
Emulated, assaulted,

And worshipped when assaults fail,
There’s an ideology
Of success by the measure

Of supplies, and the excess
Of supplies becomes beside
The point. The point is supplies.

To the extent this measure
Of success keeps successful,
Distribution gets lumpy

And lumpier. You could say,
With a measure of success,
The system is lumpyist.

In its regions of failure,
There’s nothing much but whispers.
Whispers make for poor measures,

But we’re here, spread thin and rare
As dew on welwitschia,
Immeasurable failures—

Difficult at least—whispers,
If not immeasurable,
Implausible to measure.