What Rough Beast | Poem for November 4, 2017

Zachary Taylor Knox
(poor concentration)

come to the wagon stall at the carnival and
graze upon the prescribed crystal ball
to see what litters the lobes and halls
of the mind served on a silver
platter fed to the cannibal chatter
talk is cheap they bleat, lucky for us
someone bleeps the bad words that
could raise some concerns with the
parents that have easy to hit nerves
got to protect the children from the
danger of words that we heard from
the mouths of our parents it’s a
competition to see whose childhood
was worse they put it on tv in the form
of pornographic tv but mark twain didn’t
speak kindly about the african american
community so he shouldn’t be taught

they all speak fast enough to make the head spin
in this land where the grass is always greener no
one wins and everything done is counted in a swear jar
as a sin

 

Zachary Taylor Knox’s poems have appeared in Ealain and Penny Ante Feud. He lives in Fort Madison, Iowa.

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