A Ghost Is Any Tenacious Shadow in Saint George, Utah, 10 October 2018

It used to be you could do philosophy
In poetry. Ask Lucretius or Parmenides.
Now you can’t hardly do poetry in poetry.
On the balcony, a mass-manufactured
Jack-o-lantern sheds black plastic glitter
And flickers with battery-powered light.
Tonight I keep the window open to be certain
The tragic rumble of the traffic still goes by.
When it goes, and the manufacturing goes,
And the black plastic battery-powered glow
Goes, we all go. It used to be you could do
Prophecy in poetry. Ask the oracle at Delphi.
Now you can hardly do poetry in prophecy.
It haunts me. I know this. I don’t know why.