Standing outside the Clinton Library
in Little Rock waiting on my people
to finish their cigarettes so we could
move on, I was thinking of proportion:
What the majority finds to be major
indiscretions,
what the minority finds to be major
indiscretions.
I was thinking of the justifications for killing
anything, physically or metaphorically.
Inside, there was video footage of Bill
receiving a standing ovation by the UN.
My singular comfort, looking over that
gray river and that rusted bridge into the
tired winter sky, was this:
if we've come so far
so quickly, it might yet be possible
to retrace our steps with the same
speed.
At this point, I must believe
in balance, above all things.
And I understand well,
"above all things
means, in this case,
"at the expense of all other things.
