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| Image source: Pébéo |
Through all my life I’ve grown up just enough
to step back through the looking glass and sing
nonsense songs while shaving. You know the tunes.
Context has everything to do with death,
and that changes constantly, so today
I’ll settle for a six pack and a game
of football or Scrabble. Let small dogs watch
as we wrestle with ambition and win
one more time, because we know its weak points.
Last night there was a moon. There will be again
long after we uncork our last bottle.
We solved the world’s problems. It will have more,
but I don’t need to work them any more
than will finches nesting over the grill,
or their neighbors, the squirrels, or the cats
hunting stupidly, garden to garden.
M. A. Schaffner has work recently published or forthcoming in The Hollins Critic, Magma, Tulane Review, Gargoyle, and Skirmish Magazine. Other writings include the poetry collection The Good Opinion of Squirrels, and the novel War Boys. Schaffner used to work as a civil servant, but now serves civil pugs.