Visiting the Ruins

by Eleanor Lerman

 

Of course nothing is the same

To say that we are “held together by
metal and wires” is not an analogy,
not a threat to form a movement that
will change the world, which we hardly
visit anymore, anyway.  TV is better
So are dreams induced by dreams

These days, we clip the papers and
send each other queries, wondering,
What would Daddy say? Knowing
he would advise sticking with
the workers’ union and voting a
straight ticket. Then he would
put on a vaudeville wig and dance

And there’s Daddy, dancing away…

You say, Really? Another century has
already passed? And I have to tell you
yes, kiddo—it’s to laugh, don’t you
think? Thus, you are the only one
who knows me now, why I prefer
to be half Vulcan, to fight my battles
in the ruins of a planet with two suns
and an immortal moon. You are
invited to come kick down the doors
any time that you’re in town—in any
town in any universe near me

Because the way I’m going to tell
this story, that’s how it all started
in the first place: boy and girl, armed
and dangerous, idiots to the end

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