Go Fly a Kite (The Loin King))

29 Replies

Go Fly a Kite

blatant weather
so unashamedly spring
cherry blossoms striking iPhone poses
the sun making promises
it cannot possibly keep

on Easter Sunday
while the churchgoing are going to church
we vote in the federal election

on Easter Monday
after giving Jesus his day
Pope Francis shuffles quietly off the mortal
and leaves us to talk of tariffs, annexation

I look north to the snow-capped peaks
and the wilderness beyond
and I think
we could mount a resistance from there
if it comes to it
if it comes to it

lately, the phrase
that could never happen
seems impossibly naïve

I submit a version of this poem
to Poets Respond at Rattle Magazine
and get a form rejection
but I understand
they receive so many submissions
and they are so polite

meanwhile to the south
the behemoth awakens
a faint, melancholy stirring in his loins
he remembers that he was once the Loin King
and now he’s just the king of all that he destroys
and it doesn’t seem like enough.

Taking part in Open Link over at dverse.

29 thoughts on “Go Fly a Kite (The Loin King))”

  7. kim881's avatarkim881

    I love the way you set the scene, Jim, with the ‘blatant weather so unashamedly spring’, a fine Easter, and then hit us with the federal election, Pope Francis’ demise, tariffs and annexation! I also like the wordplay in the final stanza. Sorry about the rejections.

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  11. Sunra Rainz's avatarSunra Rainz

    You had me with these lines: “the sun making promises / it cannot possibly keep” and then that whole stanza about Rattle magazine was just wonderful as I totally relate! ☺️ They are so polite, it’s true, and it make you submit again even though they reject you again! (in my experience).

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