THE OSTRICHES: PART VI, APRES MOI LE DELUGE
Happy is the idiot
in the privacy of dreams
sequestered from the busyness
of business, at home under clouds
with every peripatetic step
like a dog licking every hand
sniffing every crotch
before fondling his own
floating on a raft of melting ice
Unhappy is the tyrant
in the publicity of power
caged by passions
and miasmas foul
by bootlickers of the hour
by the flood of his dysregulation
rising to his chinless face
pulling at his cankled fate
by hands of heavy lignite
spongy suppurations fast
hoping all of us will drown
to keep him company at last.
“The Ostriches” is a poetry cycle written and read by Val Vinokur and published by Public Seminar. The cycle is a continuation of “The Big Cats,” a 12-part series Vinokur began writing in June 2020 in response to COVID-19, George Floyd’s murder, and other world-shifting events as they unfolded.
