Kant Be Otherwise

by Frank De Canio / March 8th, 2020

Don’t just suggest it’s universal law
by way of telling others how to act,
while giving citizens a deal that’s raw.
Through modeling create a moral fact
which like a planted seed sprouts in the hearts
of men who’d overrun domestic plants
despite good husbandry the law imparts.
For in the end they’re autocratic rants
that water any seedlings that we’ve sown,
until they’re toxic as the hyacinth
whose flowers turn to poison once they’re grown.
Indeed, such actions sprout a labyrinth
of foliage from which there’s no escape,
but to assume a more complicit shape.

Born and bred in New Jersey, Frank worked in New York for many years. He loves music from Bach to Amy Winehouse, World Music, Latin, opera. Shakespeare is his consolation, writing his hobby. Frank likes poets Dylan Thomas, Keats, Wallace Stevens, Frost, Ginsberg, and Sylvia Plath. Read other articles by Frank.

This article was posted on Sunday, March 8th, 2020 at 8:02am and is filed under Poetry.