Attention

Thank you for your attention.

I kindly thank the stars

That if I point to Venus,

You will not look at Mars.

Attention to this matter

Is critical, you see,

If you are fearing for the world,

You will not look at me.

Each time a dogged story

Bites at my heels, annoys,

I find another twice as good.

My minions then deploy

My army or my navy,

My air force or marines,

And blow up something to distract

Attention from the scene.

So do I round up foreigners

And fill detention sites;

So do I rattle cages,

Enrage allies with my slights;

So do I every judge accuse

Who finds for those I sue;

So do I threaten media

Who tell the truth to you.

So do I write our history

In favorable terms,

The hero to its every story,

While my foes are worms;

So do I take the candy

From the mouths of bawling babes;

So do I cut your healthcare

And your pension in old age.

Each act, it ratchets up the tension,

Makes you insecure.

You grab your family, hold them tight,

You keep your conduct pure,

And quietly, direct your gaze,

Obedient and stumm,

Until at last, I have all the

Attention in the room.

For a 2020 poem about gratitude during early COVID-times, read Small Thanks. For an essay musing on the lost art of politeness, read Thank You: It’s Only Polite. For a poem about points on the compass and attention, read Wandering.