Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ANARCHIST, by PERCY STICKNEY GRANT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ANARCHIST, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The district attorney snaps his jaws
Last Line: No, not more graft.
Subject(s): Hypocrisy; Injustice; Law & Lawyers; Attorneys


The District Attorney snaps his jaws,
He tightens and curls his thin lips,
He scowls and focuses his ferret eyes,
He separates the prisoner from friendly aid --
He insults him, he riddles him with ridicule,
He overwhelms him with terror-breeding lies,
He plays with him as a cat plays with a mouse,
He kills him but does not eat him, --
Just leaves him dead.
I smile, Mr. District Attorney, to think
There is a thing would relax that strong mask of yours
Without the aid of whiskey.

The judge robes himself with his Gold Almighty superiority.
He is the arbiter of moral turpitude.
He is the patriot --
The expounder of the Declaration of Independence
To men who have found their way from Russia to
America by its light.
Who starve, it is true, on hopes it holds out.
His platitudes got him a job.
He plays with platitudes five hours a day.
Ha, ha, old man, I know something that would wake you up
For a minute or two, and make you talk sense,
Then let you sleep forever.

The railroad president thinks he has his men
Where the hair is short.
They have struck
For a little more time with their families,
A little better education for their boy and girl,
For more bread on the table.
So the militia now guards the property.
Scared young fellows
Who wonder with horror
If they will have to shoot other young fellows
They went to school with
And played baseball with on vacant lots.

A bored policeman sits on the platform of the few cars running.
"To guard the people?"
No, you Guy, to guard the cars.
Why did not the stockholders think of police protection
When the directors of the road were transferring
Millions of this precious property
To their private bank accounts;
Dumping stock on their friends and the public at high prices?
If the policeman had clubbed the directors
At each meeting when they "obstructed traffic,"
The Receivership might have been avoided.

No, Mr. President,
You have not such a tight grip on the men as you fancy.
I know something that would loose your talons.
No, not more graft.





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