Passing literati checkpoints

(A reply to post-1989 condescension)

Out of breath
the world revolving
penning
carefully
each critique,
watching
moderates
torture the weak.
Out of breath
from problem solving
noting
carefully
the time each takes,
burning
tenderly at the stake.
Full at last
of disappointments
pulling flies
from out of ointments
Free at last
from thoughtful measure
lying fast
in eternal leisure.

T.P. Wilkinson, Dr. rer. pol. writes, teaches History and English, directs theatre and coaches cricket between the cradles of Heine and Saramago. He is author of Unbecoming American: A War Memoir and also Church Clothes, Land, Mission and the End of Apartheid in South Africa. Read other articles by T.P..