Every few years the bastards and the good guys
get shuffled, redefined. A new senator with a program
or a dream enters the Thinkery, soon learns
to quibble about smoke, to trumpet as though through
the rump of the gnat, a marvelous feat of intestinology!
We weep, to see these fine-grained, flowery speakers who
cannot compromise, for compromise has no political incentives
right now. Instead, they walk on air, attack the mystery of the sun.
We call for the ladder, the torch, insist on burning,
try to forget that Tuesday in November when we bought
the blood-horse, took those made of earthenware for gods.
Sources:
- Dunn, Stephen. Riffs and Reciprocities. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999
- Aristophanes. The Clouds. Translated by William James Hickie. Project Gutenberg, 2008, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2562/2562-h/2562-h.htm (7 December 2001).
- Aristophanes. The Clouds. Translated by Alan H. Somerstein. New York: Penguin Books, 1973.
- Elliot, Bob. “Was Anyone Surprised by the Super Failure.” Writers’ Group, 2011, http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20111202/OPINION01/312020009/Was-anyone-surprised-by-super-failure-?odyssey=nav%7Chead (7 December 2011).
Heather Holland Duncan
is an Integrated Studies student at Utah Valley University, studying English literature, anthropology, and creative writing. Her chapbook, Mastering the Art of Joy, was recently published by NFSPS as winner of the Edna Meudt Memorial Award. Her poems have also been published in Encore, Touchstones, and Weeds.
