I, the alleged culprit, have a case. I, the alleged captive criminal, deny these very words: this is a tirade against my own claim, my existence. Hold these words up to light, they will burn the page. A Machiavellian of moral poison, he holds my arm twisted behind my back. I know of no forthcoming parole. My one chance is to reach out and wrap his neck in confetti, then crawl out through the tail end of my own metamorphosis. Yet I hear the action: the poison arrow I drive into his heart may be my own first step to pushing up tulips on a grassy mound. We pay the toll as one. Drawbridge guards do not tax us as two. I, the alleged salient spirit, am the true wise one; I am reliable, moral, able to catch myself even before I am thrown. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOVE'S TENDRILS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON IN GRANTCHESTER MEADOWS; ON HEARING A SKYLARK SING by GEORGE SANTAYANA HOW TO GET ON IN SOCIETY by JOHN BETJEMAN THYESTES, ACT 2: CHORUS by LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA THANKSGIVING DAY by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH UNREASONABLE REASON by JOSEPH BEAUMONT THE BLIND LEGION by WILLIAM ROSE BENET JERUSALEM; THE EMANATION OF THE GIANT ALBION: CHAPTER 3 by WILLIAM BLAKE |