Absolute poverty is the important measure. If I'm hungry, I'm hungry, no matter what my neighbours have. But if I have a 50" flat screen TV, and my neighbours have a 100" flat screen TV, that inequality does not make me poor. I can still watch TV.
If I live aboard a ship, I am not in poverty because I do not own a car, because in my society, you do not need a car. But if I live in a city with no public transport where you need a car to get around, but I can't afford one, I absolutely am.
Poverty apologists always bring up TV as an example, as if poverty is about optional extras rather than basic dignity, respect and participation.
It's about feeling inferior, it's about being treated inferior, often violently so.
For instance, what happens when you try and retrieve groceries from a supermarket when you cannot afford to pay for them.
There's a running joke in my country that US poverty is our middle class - only two cars and a small house.