Listen to Civics
read by Ken Poyner

Ihave no quarrel with the right
Of the rabbitry to revolt.
Their grievances are no less substantial than my own.
In their thousands they take
To suburban streets and lawns,
Overrun ornamental gardens, drive back
The foot high fences along gravel walks.
I stand by their authority to require
A redress of history, a reconsideration
Of the current outcome of events. Nonetheless,
I keep my shotgun near, and I am cleaning
Father’s old twenty-two caliber rifle. Eventually
Everything comes down to resource allocation
And one man with a rifle trumps
Entire divisions of an impoverished army.
The rabbits line up haunch to haunch,
Expect to punctuate their demands
With order. Targets. Noble targets
In the leadership, ordinary targets in the ranks.
I pull on my red nose, slip into
My oversized shoes and feather
The legs of my heavenly air balloon pants.
I go out to my neighbors, all
Disguised as circus clown runaways,
And we swear that as a class this night
We will give nothing back.

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