camp at the edge of forever,
dawn a promise they’ve stopped
keeping. Multiplication
is the hymn they’ve memorized
early. Their war cry of spears
and bows rattle
their raddled brains.
It is easier to copulate
themselves into clones,
dispatch the youngest—bloody
from birth—into the prayerful
plagues of bang and whimper,
into the blazing
disease of obedience,
trot, trot, little horse,
trot, trot.
Marjorie Maddox, Sage Graduate Fellow of Cornell University (MFA) and Professor of English and Creative Writing at Lock Haven University, has published 11 collections of poetry, including True, False, None of the Above; Wives’ Tales; and Local News from Someplace Else. She also co-edited the anthology Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania, and she’s the author of the short story collection What She Was Saying and 4 children’s books.