JOHNMICHAEL SIMON POETRY

As clocks creep on to midnight

you stand in graveyard shift

ballot slip in hand

 

Above the ghosts of founding fathers drift

and vultures rule the land

the emperor Vesuvius ticks clockwork in his breast

his courtesans are Frankensteins and shadows

golems with wheels and cogs

with gleaming silver insects in their nests

while at the steps that lead up to the gallows

snap and bark mechanical cats and dogs

 

Last man alive you hesitate

the second hand creeps razor-like towards your throat

now cry out the robots

now cast your ballot, vote

end the reign of faltering and pain

ten seconds before midnight’s reign

vote man, for hell’s sake vote

 

Then place the noose around your neck

we’ll say it’s suicide

the night the monster called Democracy

voted to end the mockery

and finally died