THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT AN OLIGARCH

I

Amidst the runs beneath the towers of glass,

Every thing was moving

Save the soul of the oligarch.

II

I was of one mind

Like a church

Which was empty of oligarchs.

III

The oligarch whirled in a digital storm.

It was a large part of the pandemonium.

IV

A man and a woman

Are two.

A man and a woman and an oligarch

Are legion.

V

I do not know which to prefer,

The beauty of insurrections

Or the beauty of anticipation;

The oligarch dangling,

Or just before.

VI

Filigree of steel guarded the long window

Against barbaric masses.

The shadow of the oligarch

Crossed it, to and fro.

The rage

Aimed at the shadow

An unappeasable cause.

VII

O thin men of the Heartland,

Why do you imagine golden words?

Do you not see how the oligarch

Walks around the pleas

Of the women about you?

VIII

I know noble projects

And lucid, inescapable truths:

But I know, too,

That the oligarch is immune

To what I know.

IX

When the oligarch flew out by night,

He sought the walls

Of one exclusive gated community.

X

At the sight of the oligarch

Fleeing by Lear jet

Perhaps even the pimps of liberalism

Would hurrah weakly.

XI

He rolled over America

In an armored sedan.

Once, a fear pierced him,

In that he mistook

The shadow of his limo

For justice.

XII

If the wind would shift,

The oligarch would be grounded.

XIII

It was morning all night long.

It was coming

And it was going to come.

The oligarch sat

On bunkered leather.