I Know the World

Untitled (Gold Painting), Robert Rauschenberg, 1953

The Guggenheim, Manhattan

I know the world

not comprehensively

nor exactly

still this is a place

I have travelled through near and through far

I have not been everywhere

but almost anywhere I have been

has provided an occasion

to test my favourite theory

that all people are people

I have encountered mighty demons

aligned against this most evident truth

supposing that some

are more human than others

deserving of more rights, greater deference, higher consideration

Getting ready to do the unspeakable yet again

I feel unarmed against this onslaught

clutching at straws that break in my palm

grasping at sand that slips through my fingers

falling to my knees, apologetically but uselessly.

But still ready, in my hapless way

- to fight.

The Woman Eating my Food

The Fate of the State

​