Challenge I

An extreme possibility, but one nonetheless.
Ebony teeth are not the logotype of Aquafresh.
As countless crowds would tell you, I guess.
Read the bottle: live the florid mirth.
Cause this sunstruck paradise to flounder.
Do you feel your grip slipping, slipping like your words?
I do not get nervous that easily.
Is it not Herodotus I see you read?
I'm not envious of the Greeks, in fact.
The bold ejaculation warrants no reply!
A boldest kakistocracy! A wanton theocracy!
Rule by the flouted, bring whip and scourge
Unless I'm much mistaken, that's hypocrisy.
Squalidy, I have no concern for such details
You have no libido? Recourse simply pales.
Wait my dear, 'twas  ex post facto, no doubt
Ex post facto? I can't qualify that.
Such are fallacies, a redemption guise neverending
Trundling hurried, easily or otherwise.
Hearing the footfalls 'twixt the frenzy soothes
This savage beast, this tumultuous fiend.
Vaccinate it quickly! Don vaccination clogs!
Gas masks, pots of hot liverwurst, rancid cheeses.
Push them forcefully 'nto Anaximander's gullet, I do
And yet this choking Slav sways not 'neath the gale
Side to side, they stand like Tuzla bullet skies.


January 22-28, 1996
© Ian S. Bogost & Lela Kaunitz