Prolegomena to His Obitchery

1. On potry

It’s not that I don’t like it that I write it
sans diphthong, which can be a real
ball-breaker. It’s more that I
just don’t get it, much of the time
and find more wisdom in a pop song.
In fact, I’ll stick my neck out:
I’d like it better if I could eat it.
“Pardonnez-moi, je ne l’ai pas fait exprès.

When Pete the doorman asks me
how I missed the mermaids singing
and the angels dancing I’ll say
it was hard enough to count the dead
and talk back to Beelzebub.
The time was short.
The arguments had all been made.
The deaf, dumb and blind were on the march.
In 89 seconds we’d all be dead.
I figured nothing could be saved
except my breath.

2. The thud before the fall

They’ve done it again.
In Utah.
But this time everybody knows
who did it and why.
Only the how remains a mystery
the latest penny dreadful
to keep us shocked and awed
like deer in headlights
by the truth we know
and that enslaves us the more
we think that we are free.

Western civilization has come to this.
Everything is clear.
After Utah
what used to be transparent
but still deniable
is now the writing on the wall.
JFK, RFK, MLK, 9/11
Seth Rich, Julian Assange
Ukraine and Gaza, Iran
Venezuela and Colombia still to come
are all clear as a bell
alarum or death knell
or both, it tolls for us.

Nota bene:
Tails do not wag dogs.