Image by Nina Paley / apocalypseanimated.com
With elections approaching and many other sources of dis-ease in the world, I thought I’d share “Fourth Horse and Seven Years to Go,” a poem I am (pretty much) finished with, which will be in a future book.
”Fourth Horse” is a work of whimsical angst, which has me facing the irony of home maintenance in a world falling to pieces. Hopefully, it gives readers something to smile about in the midst of all the crazy 😉
Fourth Horse and Seven Years to Go
In our country, a bulldog with a combover
and a woman who thinks the world
is her kindergarten class
run to become the next President
of The United Homeless Encampments
of America.
Using tank tread,
Russia grinds Ukrainian bones
to make bread.
Israel turns slowly, fists raised,
seeing which schoolyard bully
he’ll have to clock next.
Hamas and Hezbollah run off and whine
to Mama Iran as she shoots ballistic
glares from a distance.
Cheerios are $7.00 a box
(and don’t get me started
on the cost of bread and milk).
Meanwhile, dictators weaponize famine
to keep people in line,
those who survived the pandemic
visit the graves of those who didn’t,
and a handful of people are mauled
by bears every year.
On top of all that,
I’m supposed to caulk around this bathroom window,
whose gaps grin like a toothless, old veteran
winking as he tells me
it’s not the end of the world.
A Wandering Minstrel 