Poetry

AFP photo

By

Ernest Gordon Taulbee

Oligarch Appetites

The needle is thread by

cannibals making clothes

from the skins of those

they have consumed in

the capitalist endeavor

to possess that which

cannot be held within

hands. Be it democracy

or a total state, they

are hungry – since

oligarch appetites

are never sated by anything

that can be eaten. Even

if you want to be out of it, you

can’t just push away from the

periodic table. Immunity isn’t a cure

for the disease. It is the body’s

ability to fight it off. Once you

are infected with the hunger,

you’ll never be free of it, so

you need to sit back down.

There are things we need to

talk about. There are things

we need to know. There is

something that was secret

and sacred you devoured. There

was a betrayal you want to

divest yourself of. Lean in and

speak clearly. The microphone

is hot. We’re listening.

On Many Sides

Let us speak in truth, sir:

On many sides, there is

Confusion and heartache.

Those sides try to figure

Out why we are still

Here with this problem

Of bigotry and violence

That just won’t go away.

Let us speak of the lie, sir;

On your side, there is blood

And there is hatred

There is a mob walking

With torches and weapons

Issuing violence and killing

People in the streets. Yours

Is the side that pushes terror.

Let us speak with honesty, sir:

On my side there is too much

Silence and an armchair hope

This will resolve itself. If there

Is blame, I share in it, but if

There is a source, sir, you are

The many sides of it as a

Spectrum with too many

Shades being thrown.

Ernest Gordon Taulbee

Ernest Gordon Taulbee holds an MA in English from Eastern Kentucky University. His work has appeared in such journals as Sediments Literary-Arts Journal, Live Nude Poems, Nixes Mate Review, among others. He lives in Louisville, KY with his wife and daughters. He hopes the future will be better than the present. He can be followed on Facebook or on Twitter @gordtaul.