Shelf stone saviors with ramrod torsos— square-jaw beards tower sure-footed steeds
Breathtaking immobile virility
Their petrified dynamism
Our yearned past
A statue bearing sword extend bicep flexation
Hunt!
Killed burden
Shaman shushed
Slaughtered forests 500,000 hectares plowed
Why
In all impulsive acts
Yes— we relive their confidence for our tomorrows
Subduing our plazas they subdue history
Even as in their shadow youths nighttime selling out for a greenback and a needle
Beatifying pedestal preservation the pumice undying
Vision always forward
Eyes died long ago
But hoof still raised— advance!
So to hope, against defeat
Against our unstaunched stagnation
A reaping
Take up the drumbeat again
Inheritance compelled
This poem was published in the anthology The Experiment Will Not Be Bound, 2022.
Andy Oram
February 1, 2020