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| Meriwether Lewis |
By Bob Boldt
The last of the Monarchs lights on my window sill,
his orange fluttering as futile a gesture of salvation
as my own. Now the Brazilian hurricanes will take it from here
no longer suffering any Butterfly Effect.
Red tailed hawks and bald eagles shop
the Missouri River bluffs’ thermals.
They dip and soar so effortlessly free
from any knowledge of endangerment.
While dredging barges ply upstream following
the ghost of old mad Meriwether,
seeking manifest destiny with brutal imaginary maps distilled
from the sight of passing shores and the crunch of shifting shoals.
Rising water reaches for the godforsaken land lapping
past the high dome of the Missouri Capitol
where unspeakable crimes are composed
as routinely as the passing of time or bad law.
Missiles roar to the rising sun.
Respect your neighbors. Plot your schemes.
Make for yourself some rhyming memes.
“Never surrender.” “Never give up.”
Leave Elijah an empty deck chair for
the Seder sup. Keep the hopium pipe lit and bright
aboard this titanic, boat of frozen folly destined to sink
beneath December’s flows.
| Copyright © 2020 by Bob Boldt |
What a magnificent despairing poem of apocalyptic acceptance!
ReplyDeleteAlong perhaps similar lines: My wife this morning was bemoaning her bodily aches and pains, which I recognized as common to her and me both, although hers seem to be worse and oftener. I said, “There’s only one sure-fire remedy for them, though, isn’t there?” And she said, “What’s that?” But she’d already guessed: “Ah, death. Right.”
ReplyDeleteHave to agree with Morris, I was going to say "delightfully dark and apocalyptic", so I think I will. Delightfully dark and apocalyptic!
ReplyDeleteThe capitol of Missouri--the arm pit of America.
ReplyDeleteNice to see how well you got it right. Good work.
“...the high dome of the Missouri Capitol
Deletewhere unspeakable crimes are composed
as routinely as the passing of time or bad law”
is a tidy summation, all right!