By Thad DeVassie
Your army will not engage today. A coup is nowhere in sight. Power wielded is now power yielded. So lift the drawbridge, drain down the moat. Make the heroic gesture of sending troops to serve, not sever. Call a truce, unknot your stubbornness. Rewrite the law of your land. Bring it down, stone by stone, that fortified wall built to withhold and withstand. This is no laughing matter. Send home the court jester, redefine your fledgling realm. Reconsider all your kingdom things, deliberately and without regret. An inner voice chides – you’re only king once – and weighs heavily on the conscience. Then consider: legacy is not far removed from fallacy. One destined to fall like empires, the other maintaining a leg to stand on for all to see.
Thad DeVassie is a multi-genre writer and painter who creates from the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio. He was awarded the 2020 James Tate International Poetry Prize for his manuscript, SPLENDID IRRATIONALITIES. His chapbooks, THIS SIDE OF UTOPIA (Cervena Barva) and YEAR OF STATIC (Ghost City Press) are forthcoming in 2021. Find him online @thaddevassie.
The Birdseed 