Social security

Unless you were born
a boy
with silky chestnut hair
shaped like a perfect bowl of soft wound thread
nested as in a kitten ball
atop an angelic head dappled with
a sole magic dimple under the high arched
cheekbone amidst
perfectly placed and sized features,
jawlines of a steed,
eyes of witches hazel,
long indulgent black lashes,
long limber legs, strong steel shoulders
broad aspirations
long ago,
No-
you will not be chosen
as the one that was
a man for all ages
a perfect fit,
the right breed,
hand(y)some or skillful.

The rest shall be
Employees.



Painting by Benjamin Haydon [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Civil War: the sequel

By milk and money, gluttony we have made

The Hero and so much more ground to cover

to fight for

By now this calcified, meaning mummified idealism

hollows in its armoured vest-ments

The Wars never end, unjustly change coordinates

Artwork By Cobb, Darius, 1834-1919 (artist); L. Prang & Co. (publisher) (Flickr: Civil War trompe l'oeil) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.