The absence of Copernicus’s scope.

Stuttering logos. The ego’s trophy

halo. The quiet, unnatural death

of the three artistic proofs. The excuse

rather than the fight. Homer’s limping hero,

Buddha’s blind eye. Plato’s cave dweller

empowered by the shadow maker;

the messenger despised. A crush of valedictorians

still tethered to their mothers’ seedy placentas.

The golden bough made bronze for more

to enter. Elysium no longer the nerve center.

The present, past, and future: Picasso’s

flung bones in Guernica – discordant

tones, discordant consciousness. The epic hero

homeless, more or less.