The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: Wolf Hat Iron Shoes by Martha McCollough

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All these omens

comets and a crowing hen
antichrist squatting
		in the seat of power.

the century’s logo:
		goofball dog in a hat
		red tongue
				dangling sideways
		X X for its eyes

trash fire burning
mid street

is this fine

maybe long oblivion can
erase our embarrassment or do I mean shame

I mean
can you tell the ostrogoths
		from the visigoths
		or keep the dull presidents straight
no
just throw us what’s-his-name
the emperor’s           head
in a basket

wild spring
I wish I were with you
		floating like smoke
				through teargas streets

you said
as the dream of every cliché is       to enter a poem
the dream of every lie       is to slither into history

above us
all the home-come chickens
			weigh the branches into downward arcs
			every tree in the park weeping

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