wet market contagion
community spread
Li cries out
then silenced
dead
empty streets in Wuhan
people inside
doors welded shut
how many died?
Xi lies
dictatorship and national pride
crematorium ash flies
the Devil is unbound
the world oblivious
priests consecrate the wine and bread
body and blood of Christ
only to be struck down, dead
the Horsemen have arrived
the job of Christ is no earthly saving
dead in the wards
dead in the hallways
bodies fill the churches
shipped to more-spacious churchyards nearer the Vatican
the conflagration spreads
oh, American decadence!
the stupid vanity of the trumped-up man
stupidly vain righteousness
impeach the man
impeach democracy
‘I win! I shine!’ — ‘You swine!’
a glorious circus all dressed up in right and wrong
interrupted by sweeping death
Emerald City sorrow, Gotham apocalypse
the dying comes and comes
unprepared
machines breathing last breaths
saviors saving only to die
the big boss strips us naked
knocks us unconscious…
we awake in fits
to face reality and find solace as we can
but back to the circus we go
winning and losing, righting and wronging, shining and stinking up the joint
what a show
death smiles
but the end is not yet written
Policy of Truth 
I’m shocked. You wrote a poem? For one thing, I had no idea you had poetic talent. And besides that, aren’t you aware of the fact that “politics is not a poem”? I thought we read Against Democracy together. How could you have forgotten so elemental a fact about the world?
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“Born to fight fate.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5DhJS5hGWc
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Still something of a work in progress. Kelly and I were marking Ruination Day, April 14 (this is from the pair of songs by Gillian Welch, April the 14th, Part 1 and April the 14th, Part 2). We were remarking on how Welch needed to rewrite the songs to somehow include the present tragedy (along with the Titanic sinking, the height of the Dust Bowl migration and Lincoln’s assassination) into the ennui-soaked vignette that ties together the April 14ths of her Part 1. Maybe she didn’t have anything better to do? Maybe we didn’t. However, soon after jotting down some ideas, I realized there was no good way for Welch, or anyone else, to do this. (Some songs you can add or subtract a verse from pretty readily. Not this one.) So I did something entirely different with the material. Here is Welch’s April the 14th Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjwatDksOvQ&fbclid=IwAR0nq1oAHMTA-zpPv6ZMpWdK4f3hrU6Ao_nZIMaQqzrCMWglmbFru2BxgRQ
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