Ode to a Savage Nation
(For J)

Tables and more tables
and on them books,
the right books near
coffee, the right coffee.
Poses, the right poses
for people who hate
the measles vaccine
who hate injustice
by playing the right music
at the right time
for their customers
of thought, painstaking
work though it is.
This is E flat, G sharp
right near the Brie,
drink the water
of lillies mixed with
the books on the tables.

But we just hate the measles vaccine!
Bully. My precious bully.
Where are you today?
Ah. The church is coming
on strong today
we can go in and out,
we can see how much
the windows matter
but we hate this measles vaccine.
Our name is Jenny, all our names
are Jenny and our boys
play tag all alone.

There is something wrong
with everything, this poet
states we hate photos
of beards because
it is wrong to use photos
of beards when using
bombs on the muslims
but she still says: beards.
She thinks the beards are bad
and hence, prefers photos
of muslims dying without
their beards on, just as juicy.

We hate the measles vaccine
and our name is Jenny.
We at Jenny like to be Jenny,
we have all sorts of lazy cats
that wander around our stone
houses, figure out the prize.
This call was about shingles.
Should we send a letter home
to the parents and tell them
about the shingles? Should we?
Come on huh huh, should we, should we?
Send the letter home, tell me,
should we tell the parents
about the truth?
And our boys play tag
all alone but we just hate
the shingles and the measles vaccine.

Beard.
1A beard should only be as long
as the fist.
2A beard should not be left
to dangle on the chest
to resemble beards of old men.
3The beard distinguishes
boys from women.

Does she really agree
that beards are impolite?
Poets. Real good poets.
And just real good poems,
like us, not the same
thing as Jenny is used to
and calls herself herself.
Talks to herself all the time.
She must be tired, real tired
of all those books, she must
have conversations with cats,
conversations with lemons,
play hackysack when the bell rings
and the announcer says:

Play hacky sack now.

Cut the tall trees.
I keep hearing Jenny
in my head, keep telling her
it isn't about the vaccines
darling, it's not about
the bones either.
I've had about enough
of those miracle workers
in the alleys now. Had enough
of that poisonous tea.
It isn't about the beards Jenny.
It's a bit more than that.