Alternate Realities

 

Bloom thought Owl’s Clover Steven’s poorest poem,
Mixing it up with the Marxists armed with little
More than his family’s archaic traditions.  Perhaps
Because my family moved from the Midwest with
Disjointed and poorly argued traditions there seemed
No point in declaring Jonestown unreal.  Jones’ swerve
Devolved into a competing reality.  Speculation about

His imagination seems specious even if we could
Know it.  Prophets always declare “the Truth.”
I couldn’t have been in Jim Jones’ congregation
Having a “short to isolate” opposition in my thinking,
Never mind any imagination in a social sense
(Steven’s flaw) to social adventures the details
Of which can be discovered in any modern library.

On the other hand Karl Marx wrote love poetry
To Jenny Von Westphalen.  Marx and a friend then
Got drunk, laughed in church and rode donkeys
Through the streets of Berlin having been awarded
His PhD at Jena.  He was criticized for his anti-Christian
Reality eventually moving to Britain with its
Tolerance-reality where they smiled at his views.