In order to stop snickering
at the humor lurking
like vermin in
each of the growing cracks
in the dike of Empire
I have to think of all
the innocents and
roughly crushed folks
already barely surviving
in the flood zone below
and remember the quote
about comedy and tragedy
in order to force myself
to pull up short
of a belly laugh
while thinking
of the rumble of stones
and rubble that will come
with the cleansing
when that wall explodes at last
Dark Matter 
September 29th, 2022 at 4:15 pm
Hans Brinker, you are not! Sorry, couldn’t resist. I’m finally going through several hundred emails that I saved for when I had more time. At 85, I decided I might be running out of time, so I’m taking time now. It’s been a year since you wrote this. Erosion continues, but we are still more or less afloat.