Poem of the Day
Study of Children
By Asha Futterman
did you know
that you all work for me?
I asked them as a joke
did you know
that you all work for me?
I asked them as a joke
City air makes a man free
To cut his own throat or that
Of his neighbor across the way.
Love in a maze destroyed his force
Regretting free and sunny days.
He mastered compass, chart and course
But if, after so many droning days,
You try to imagine a quiet country
Under the soft crush of the tide,
On the hottest day of the year I rode the mail
To Waterloo Strand and Seaside Macedon
Where, tanned like Egyptians in their Louis-Quatorze
Cold, cold …
In the end it began to snow
Mercifully, like bandages
No, nothing is asleep in this demesne
Of scrub pine, washed-out oak; the wet
Intrudes on every cache,
His mother caught him sitting on the toilet with his pants
down. On the edge of the bathtub, directly in front of him
was a photograph of a naked girl with her pubic hair showing.
This showroom is now open.
You will see the most complete collection
of debris fashioned into the necessary shapes.
Offenders will be prosecuted
without regard for age or sex.
It will, we hope, be everything
you ever wanted in a medallion.