a little visit to maximus

   














John Burke did not rise




when Councilman Smith, nor had he signed


the complimentary scroll....


Staring into the torsion

Of his own face Burke


sat solid in

refusal (as,


in matters of the soul a private man


lives torn


by inspection


and judicium, the judge


or mischievous woman


who make hob


of us) sweat, Burke




sweat, indubitoubly,


in his aloneness-or he'd not have said,


"I am no hypocrite"


Against the greased ways


of the city now (of the nation) this politician


himself a twisted animal


swelling of mouth, followed


by squirrels as pilot fish


himself a shark will not


tolerate
the suave / the insolence


of agreement


     








               Charles Olson