“the big steal” by RC deWinter

a concatenation of neatly organized
catastrophes cascaded neatly
falling dominoes disguised as truth
arranged by practiced machiavellis

leaving me in a day affording nothing
but newspapers smeared with the evil tidings
of hatred and greed cultivated in a lab by rats
set free by the gloved hands of profiteers

willing to sell what can be sold and bury
what is rendered obsolete in their desert of a vision
where nothing but power and gain is sacred
all greenly growing visions buried in sands

that shift to the rhythm of the marketplace

as vultures wheel coins clink
the court of sanity adjourns
an ancient parchment flames and burns
bloody tongues devour its ink

∞

RC deWinter’s poetry is widely anthologized, notably in *New York City Haiku* (New York Times, February 2017), *Cowboys & Cocktails* (Brick Street, April 2019), *Nature In The Now *(Tiny Seed Press, August 2019), *Coffin Bell Two* (March 2020), in print in *2River, Adelaide, Event, Genre Urban Arts, Gravitas, Kansas City Voices, Meat For Tea: The Valley Review, the minnesota review, Night Picnic Journal, Prairie Schooner, Southword,* among others and appears in numerous online literary journals.

Follow RC de Winter on Twitter @rcdewinter!