What Is the Opposite of Politics?


A shift of rain in the trees.
A snow globe in a sandbox.
My cousin's scuffed knees.

What is the cost of mercy?
A spade of silent rust.
You'll never know if justice
is less refined than dust.

Who is that fellow singing?
I never knew his kind.
You say he's rough and tender.
I hope to live forever
if heaven is his mind.
_____

Christopher Bernard’s most recent book is A Socialist’s Garden of Verses, winner of a 2021 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award and named one of the “100 Top Indie Books of 2021” by Kirkus Reviews. He is founder and a principal, with Ho Lin, Steven Hill, and Jonah Raskin, of the webzine Caveat Lector.