The Controversy: a poem by Alysse Aallyn

The Controversy

In the bar we argue
You drink gin and I drink bourbon
You admit there’s something out there but
God and Christ have been discredited
You prefer the snake-faced aliens.

Can pedagogues discredit learning
I demand -Do rapists disgrace sex?
Outside the blank-faced soldiers
Breathing on the glass of history
Await their time.

They are glad to lend their bones
As lumber. They’re afraid to live.
Rebel children seize the city
Experimenting on the damned.
We’re trapped inside the hourglass

Moving not in circles but in spirals –
Moving somewhere.
You order a stronger round
I look inside my wallet
To see what’s left.