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Tuesday, April 23, 2024

teacher, part 2


by rhoda penmarq



two women sat on a bench in the twilight
they talked about men

“i do not find the subject at all humorous”

the present is always with us
the future not quite so much
not even in the so-called 21st century

the patriarch stroked his long white beard
and stared at the work of art
which he had been told represented the future

so this, he thought, is human civilization
and this is te best they can do
perhaps i should write a novel

about human civilization
in the 21st century
and perhaps touch glancingly on so-called western civilization

and even more briefly on so-called patriarchy
and look briefly into the mists of the future
it will all be very scientific, to be sure

and clean and bright and shining
the sun flashed through the window
briefly illuminating the past

but it was only human civilization
in the form of poetry
and the lost art

of western civilization
lost in the present
all very sad




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