Matthew Rohrer

POEM [for king and country]

 

in the pillory

where I stood for years

the indigo buntings

visited me and warned me

 

but i couldn't understand

them, my penance spent

in silence, in sad humor-

less achievement

 

of the king's aims

my countryside watered with tears 

the cherry trees blossomed

like a disease across the land

 

in silence and obscurity

my revolution grew fatter

and plotted the insurrection

of a lifetime spent in ignorance

 

of birdsong and waterways

i sharpened my axe

while the king's men awaited

my organ failure

 

my orange jumpsuit fluttered

bravely by the seaside

and the small beasts rallied

around it

 

their revolution will not be

compartmentalized

dominion everywhere

of patient dung beetles

 

as the king marches around

in his bedroom in front of a mirror

 

 

 

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