not marble nor the gilded monuments

of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme

(Shakespeare: Sonnet 55)



I like a statue

with its head smashed off

the fuckwittery of glory

in suitable situation

on the ground
these heads took no prisoners

and it’s cathartic to take

a hammer to Stalin

or to reverse Rodin

with a chisel

the boof of Cecil Rhodes

or piss

on the head

of an Assad while

he’s lying in the dirt
what do they care

they never cared

and why should we care

about them

so much history

is less a lesson than

a posture

or a petulance
if the world knew justice

these heads would have

lived and died

in the stocks

pelted with spoiled fruit;

and their statues

drilled headfirst into concrete

with their feet

remaining airbound

as a cautionary tale.
We should be free

to commit violence

on their memorials

on behalf of all the people

who kept the earth going quietly

until somebody’s greatness

later turned to stone

put them under

an anonymous patch

of dirt.