2030

A DOCUMENT OF BARBARISM

"Every document of civilization is also..." -- Benjamin


At the museum Franklin asked how I read that line.
I averred that its staying power resides
In the vagueness that lets it be carried abroad
Among many flavors of righteousness.

I'll have a double scoop of Freudian judo;
Not, by the way, a good one to share with the wife.
The farther any art goes in its severity
The more completely it eventually becomes kitsch.

In the exhibition of gray paintings I kicked a penny
From room to room. Eventually I gave up
On it ever turning heads. As I picked it up,
Franklin explained the meaning of "The Dutch Wives."