On Reading the History of Economist James Buchanan

There is a plot of real estate

in my heart
where I, too, cultivate toxic plants

and other venomous things.

I can be

petty and hateful.

I can be unreasonable 

in my demands. I can besiege

my enemies with a Molotov cocktail

of distilled melodrama

and a wick of pure spite.

I have moments of ungenerosity

in my home terrain.

 

Yet I have now seen the souls

of my would-be oppressors

laid bare, 

and I can say:

At least in my own darkest places,

light is still capable

of being reflected back
at the viewer.

It is not this astronomical black hole, 

this vision of terror
so deeply powerful

in its utter petty joyless

malicious nature,

that neither kindness

nor Hope, can escape it. 

 

 

Author's Note

inspired by a sobering read of the book "Democracy in Chains" and reflecting on the soul breaking doctrines that one segment of US population wants to inflict on the rest of us.