In the Parliament of the Common Man

In the parliament of the common man

men hunker around the lean fire

of a newspaper and talk of tyrants

and the politics of power. They are passing

an electric current around a ragged circle

that pulses in pointing fingers and eager faces.

*

In the parliament of the common man

a pick-up game rumbles to life

and someone says, It’s a shame about O.

A young man asks, What’s a shame?

The ball ripped from his hands. Just how

hard I’m gonna dunk on your sorry ass.

*

In the parliament of the common man

Robert’s Rules do not apply. No ritual

goat dance, no show of hands. Only

the heated exchange of small groups.

How did we let this happen? You had it

coming! What will happen to us now?

*

In the parliament of the common man

men and women stand in protest,

shout out spondee slogans, while in a

darkening room a cabal of old white men,

quiet and savage, hungrily unravel

the fabric of decency and good will.