MacArthur Reads to his Boy

      "I was too cool to rule with fisted vengeance
      beneath the swaddling velvets of my elegant green glove---
      tell the vets who took it on the chin at Iwo Jima to read The Book;
      God himself puts hubris to the sword. I start my day with prayer.
5     War makes one love what God hasn't wrecked.
      When I worm from my humdrum office to the ambassador's shack
      and back, I let the limo-boy drive in a slow lull,
      open to the assassin's asking; when Gawd calls me home
      I want to feel the tug. Let lesser men denounce
10    what means nothing to them, stuck with their existential hype
      and hysteria for reality. I've had my blistering fill.
      Glory, duty, honor, lilt me into longing still.
      Jean in her scarlet kimono comes ghosting in. Honey, please, my pipe.
      Ever see a wasted derringer fizz? Thanks. Smoke goes up
15    just like that. Curls like the starved howl of Arizona wolves
      I played pinch-pat with as a darling kid, on assignment
      in the desiccated wild west with my cavalry dad. My boy, goodbye.
      Kiss Daddy on the cheek, and he'll tell you a Pecos Bill lullaby."

 

From the collection "Contemporaries"

Written by Gregg Glory [Gregg G. Brown]

More information available on gregglory.com.