Fall of the Classic Maya
The good old days are gone:
thorns through the tongue and the penis,
skull racks in the ball court, heaps of bleeding hearts.
But the young American president is tall, slender, and sweet.
His tapered fingers fire the flames that destroy terrorists and traitors.
And now we safely sleep. And now we safely sleep. And now we safely sleep
Phil Tabakow is the author of a book of poems entitled The Mechanics of Submission (DC Books, Montreal 2004) and has published individual poems in many journals and magazines, including Denver Quarterly, Colorado Review, Interim and Poetry East. His poem “Walt Whitman at Pfaff” was chosen for the anthology Visiting Walt, published by the University of Iowa Press. He has recently completed a new poetry manuscript entitled No Apparent Order, as well as a co-authored poetry chapbook with M.L. Tabakow entitled The Gulf Between Us. He is currently compiling another book of poems with the working title of Dregs of Eden.