Let’s compare paper bags to Plato’s Cave:
Both are cavities, voids within matter,
Dark without introducing light waves,
Silent without contents to move and clatter.
The allegorical Cave’s not alone:
Sun, natural things, their reflections, fire,
Artificial objects, their shadows shown
On the cave walls are needed to inspire.
The paper bag’s utility extends
Past its intended use (to hold objects)
As a stand-in for the Cave it ascends,
Or as material for craft projects.
Plato’s Cave is imagined, thus it lacks
Capacity for food or sleepy cats
Selected haiku 