Soviet poster, 1975
For October glory
I spurned a break
for my wife’s
funeral reception.
I have ascended
to labor reverie.
After turning thirty
lachrymose stings
and the mirror
reflected hammer
sprouts from both
acromions and metal
sickles from the
sanctum. By thirty-nine,
hammers rose to each
intertragic notch
and operated
independently
manipulated
by tentacle sickles.
Factory boss
elevated me
to the blackest
corner to preserve
excessive power.
Voice box only
screeches
industrial squalor
so I interact
with comrades
via surplus
centimeter-
wide penny-
paper ribbons.
Jeffrey H. MacLachlan also has recent poetry in New York Quarterly, The Greensboro Review, descant, among others. He is a Senior Lecturer of literature at Georgia College & State University.
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