Carthage and Airplanes

This poem by Maine's Poet Laureate Baron Wormser reminds me of how distant our leaders can get from the ugly realities of today's world:

Carthage and Airplanes

Carthage likes to ride in airplanes.
Up in the sky he can forget
About the schedules of earth.
It is almost like thinking,
Gazing out the window at the clouds.

He likes to ponder.
“We’re pretty high up,” he says
To his aides.
“I wonder if we could go much higher.”
Everyone looks thoughtful.

Back on earth ten-year-olds heft Uzis,
People drop dead on sidewalks,
Friendship sours like old milk.
How much better it is in the sky!

Too bad you have to be going somewhere.
Too bad the endless limo will appear
And some suit or turban or daishiki
Will greet you and start
Telling you about what’s going
To happen soon or happened yesterday.

“Why don’t you fly around more?”
Carthage would like to say to them.
If you live in the sky, nothing happens.
You don’t even see the rain.
It is almost like thinking.

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