The New History of the World
—for Richard M. West
On Bastille Day, I am told the revolution
was the worst thing that ever happened to France—
it caused more misery than before.
(Do you favor the divine right of kings, I coughed.)
China guns down a thousand students
and government’s first duty, I am instructed,
is to maintain order.
(Holy shit! I can’t believe we both write outlaw poetry.)
I try something safe, like Einstein,
in quiet moments after work, painting flowers.
I see your mind shift into gear: a whirlwind of operatic history,
of suicides, dragons and dwarfs—of Churchill impossibly upstaged
at Yalta by a gallery show of apocalyptic flowers!
(Okay, so I have a hard time
admitting it…you get more poems published than me.)