The Chorus
The smoky battle blew in through the curtains we put our haddock down
and listen to the antagonistic with musket and parched boots snorting
Elements packed densely no time for ivy replay
Still we hear the sod protesters in starchy wares
Outside the laughter is a deduction and terminally compressed coinage
The slip-shod accuser bravado moves to tantalize the good-for-nothings to be
well-behaved with beauty parlor hypnotism
Where is the chorus of wisdom where are the stories our little ones must hear before
the flyswatter before the admiring thresher before the gummy statesman
before this conquest
No investment is simplistic the toothbrush the books the bicycle the leaflets
Afraid of the marble majority afraid of their sweetness attraction to rail activity
afraid of what my fear will do to us
Julia Cohen has a chapbook out with horse less press (If Fire, Arrival) and one forthcoming with H_NGM_N B__KS (Ruby in the Microphone). Her poems appear or are coming out in Octopus #7, typo, Denver Quarterly, Spinning Jenny, and Copper Nickel. Find her at onthemessiersideofneat.blogspot.com.