Poetry Month

Eyes Scooped Out and Replaced by Hot Coals
by Thomas Lux

The above, the punishment, the mild
but just punishment, symbolic,
the great advancement our planet
most needs.
The procedure is painless,
using methods currently available
only in cartoons. Polls were taken,
it was voted upon overwhelmingly in favor.
The justness of it,
known in the bone
by each of our nation-is undeniable. Thus, it is proclaimed,
on this day, anno domino, etc., I, the final arbiter
and ultimate enforcer
of such things (appointed by the king!), make official
and binding, this : that the eyes shall be gouged out
and replaced by hot coals
in the head, the blockhead,
of each countryman or woman who,
upon reaching their majority,
has yet to read
Moby Dick, by Mr. Herman Melville (1819-1891), American novelist
and poet.

That's gonna hurt....