ON BEING ASKED TO LEAVE A PLACE OF HONOR FOR ONE OF COMFORT; PREFERABLY IN THE NORTHERN

SUBURBS

(for those who work and stay in the ragged Mississippis of the world)

In this place of helmets and tar

the anxious burblings of recreants

buzz over us

we bent laughing to oars of gold

We regard them as Antigone her living kin

Fat chested pigeons

resplendent of prodigious riches

reaped in body weight

taking bewildered pecks

at eagles

as though muck

were God.