song of the recent unpleasantness

there are times when you want to write a poem
about the sad changes that have come to your home
and unfortunate forces political and otherwise
bring fears to your heart and tears to your eyes

there are times when you want to be extremely specific
and others when you think it would be a neater trick
to keep the thing vague that inspired your lyricism
then keep it academic with a reference to empiricism

when trouble is brewing in your chronological neighborhood
an allusion to the past can make your poem seem extra good
for example to Darwin's first sight of a turtle
juxtaposed with a desperate new moral hurdle

then later when twelve year olds read your poem in school
there can be a footnote with the name of some tool
from the now-current cabinet, plus one for the butterfly
metaphorically squashed in the net of some other guy

or maybe you just want to vent some unhappiness
about the sad state of the popular press
without making elaborate museum displays
that's fine too we each have our own poetic ways