Wednesday, May 04, 2011

A TEST OF THE GREAT MAN THEORY OF HISTORY

by Romie Stott


In two years we've fought pirates, fixed colleges
brought women where there should be women
brought doctors where there should be doctors
kickstarted three flailing industries
and capped a hole at the bottom of the sea.

It would take at least five issues of Superman to get so much done
and he had but one Lex Luthor
(I wish Donald Trump would shave his hair)

Our Good president, our shining-man hero president,
he says we've done this together
but I don't pay much in taxes
I mostly play solitaire on my computer
and drive politely in traffic, which is good
but not Good - not Nobel peace prize.
Not save the Libyans.

No, I think it's him more than me, or we,
or socio-economic tides, which are pointing the other direction.
Maybe he wasn't born in Hawaii like he says
but on a planet with a dying sun, many miles away.


Romie Stott has worked as an editor with Reflection's Edge and Drollerie Press. Her poems have been published by Strange Horizons, Jerseyworks, and Black Words on White Paper. She is a professional narrative filmmaker whose work has been commissioned by the National Gallery, London and the Dallas Museum of Art.
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