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.)