In The Den

IN THE DEN

 To spite conservation of chaos,

the whiskey, beer, wine rituals,

Homeric  remembered death

as a many splendid thing,

a drug-laced funk of power

cycling through thirty-five trillion visions

of primate lust, bereft of sanctuary

or environmental  love or tailored liberty

the deer couple listen,

being avatars of American Gothic evidence,

they listen, despite the dreadful  comedy

of  their eyes once stymied by headlights

now become myth mirrors

for the swish of paint on skin;

the deer couple listen,

anxious buck and angry doe do listen.

To spite the beautiful lie that spirits die,

the deer couple survey the true grit of greed,

the  rise and fall of thirty-five trillion versions,

record the negative progress of human truth.

Jerry W. Ward, Jr.                            October 28, 2017