M.A. Schaffner
Homeland
The planning process then had fewer shiny parts,
but the dull gloss of gears with broken teeth
attests to the fierceness of vanity, even
as the snows recede to small hilltop hovels.
Long view of the perimeter: junk trees and
wide sections of collapsed wire. Patrols
seek not to stop barbarians but
to catch them returning and steal their loot.
This is easier after the start of the
fiscal year. Not everyone screams in pain
when the dagger draws down on the deadline,
but they all want shares in the residuals.
Then the issue of classification:
reform or rapine. Some days pass like mice
on steroids, without a sense of humor.
Others are like this: it's raining, but dry.
You know how it goes. All of you. And yet,
we will return repeatedly until
the seasons themselves stop trying to learn.
A billion birds a year die at our windows.
but the dull gloss of gears with broken teeth
attests to the fierceness of vanity, even
as the snows recede to small hilltop hovels.
Long view of the perimeter: junk trees and
wide sections of collapsed wire. Patrols
seek not to stop barbarians but
to catch them returning and steal their loot.
This is easier after the start of the
fiscal year. Not everyone screams in pain
when the dagger draws down on the deadline,
but they all want shares in the residuals.
Then the issue of classification:
reform or rapine. Some days pass like mice
on steroids, without a sense of humor.
Others are like this: it's raining, but dry.
You know how it goes. All of you. And yet,
we will return repeatedly until
the seasons themselves stop trying to learn.
A billion birds a year die at our windows.
Page(s) 37
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