Vol 1 No 1 2007
Patriot Acts
The poets taught me that some people are dirty, some
Fancy, and some write poetry! Then they taught me that
All of us are symbols inhabiting other symbols;
That the worker consumes the consumer and the young
Boy consumes the old man and the nubile girl
Consumes her shampoo! I didn’t understand
When the poet used all the exclamation points.
I didn’t understand where the lawn went after
The lawnmower finished eating it or where
The subway car slept in the dead of night.
They said, “Witness the cider-barrel, the log-cabin,
The hickory-stick, the palmetto, and all the leaves
Of the great books yellowing.” I said, “I can’t stand
The smell of the library!” They said, “Can’t you
See the power of the flag and the cardinal,
Our state bird?” I didn’t know we still had a state
Bird. They said, “When Plato defines a line as
A flowing point, are you going to argue with him?”
I said, “If a line’s drawn in the sand, then it’d better
Be attached to a rubber band.” “You mean,” they said,
A slingshot?” I said, “No, I was thinking about
Mother’s old swimming suit.” They said, “We’re
not
Here to destroy you.” And then one of them made
A move for his pen. I said, “Don’t do it—it might
Explode!” They said, “Don’t worry, we’ll let you
Fuck the heroes after we’re done with them.”
Mark Yakich