McVeigh on TV

by Philip Schultz

Round pursed lips, a gelatinous squint,
Mona Lisa’s unblinking absence
verging on self-rhapsody –
we can admire such adeptness.
The riotous haphazard fervor
of his half-sleeping eyes
has already forgiven itself.
A childhood photo is shown
of a pleasant looking boy,
with freckles. Hiccups.
He laughs when told
the Unabomber said
he enjoyed better social skills.
One thing led to another.
He offers no advice.
Celebrity wasn’t his intention.
The Children, he’s asked,
he knew about the children?
He just wishes collateral damage
was a little less entertaining.

~~~~~
Author Bio
Philip Schultz won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. His most recent book, The God of Loneliness, Selected and New Poems (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) was published in April 2010.  More >

Leave a comment