Adorable Deplorables
by Thomas Piekarski

We'll begin with Pierre who because
of aristocratic upbringing founded
a church that dumped worshipers
into trash bins and filled his pockets
with howitzers as well as morphine.

Senator Mustafa, patriotic zealot,
washes hands with mercury
he stole from the bishop
right under his anteater nose
when the candles grew dim.

Lady Isadora pompously
shows off an ermine coat
she found at a graveyard
despite roars of vehement protest
from a wagon train rolling south.

Then impeccable magician Alexander
out to hoodwink the unsuspecting
with visuals one's mind though quick
still fails to identify. So angels squirm
and oceans dry up to sandy desert.

Darius unimpeachable constable wound
string around the index finger opening
a trapezoid world where stool pigeons
chirped his nasty little secrets
into ears of hibernating Eskimos.

Antoninus subsisting on diesel and steak
watches nervously as the floor implodes.
Beneath him swirl vast clouds of helium
and marmalade suns that he's certain
will be a cinch to colonize some day.

And Iggy a well-oiled robot
roaming about the town square
shoots gamma rays capriciously
at anyone until his mojo hits a wall
and he melts into shadow.


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