1.
an unsophisticated person from a rural area; hick.
I don’t know if poverty produces rubes
Or if they just exist because they are
Unaffected, innocent, not classy
Living in the country.
Perhaps there are no rubes in Africa
Perhaps there is just
Money and no money.
Food and no food.
Clothes and making do.
Perhaps the unsophistication
Is borne out of hard physical labour
With no time to loll about
As wastrels laughing at others
And tricking them out of the little they have.
In the country living is hard
Transport is little and you must
Walk and carry and work to exist
Trusting others to help
Because your survival
Depends upon it.
Perhaps the city slickers
Are scarred, damaged and hard
Replacing the warmth of village life
With meanness and materialism.
But perhaps their sophistication
Is enviable; perhaps not.
Perhaps innocence is praiseworthy;
Perhaps not.
Maybe we just have to exist separately.
And try not to insult each other.
It is the first time I have come across the word rube. I immediately thought which pictures I might have of unsophisticated people from a rural area and I found this shot from my time in Africa. There is poverty everywhere in Africa but the difference between city slickers and countryside dwellers is most noticeable when country people move to the city and get taken advantage of.
Words and photo by Englepip copyright ©
Englepip's World 
Some days I’d opt for the different way of living, viva la rube
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It’s sometimes good to experience something of the opposite of how you live I think even if it is
uncomfortable.
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I must admit, I have never encountered the word “rube” before. I like the contrast between “rubes” and “city slickers” you made in the poem, not committing either way to a characterization, but adopting a “maybe… but maybe not” attitude.
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Thank you. for your detailed comment. I don’t think we should make assumptions about other people’s lives; there are always at least two sides to any comparison.
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