Continuing Madness, by Alison Lochhead
By Steve Pottinger
Here is a thing. It is open.
You need the thing to be open, but
you do not like the people who keep
the thing open. You also need
an urgent distraction. You know
a man. Like you, this man does not like
the people who keep the thing open
(this man does not like many people)
(truth be told, this man does not like you)
and the two of you resolve that it is time
for the people who keep the thing open
to be someone else, someone different,
time for them to be other people
the two of you approve of.
The man says this will be easy. It will
be a walk in the park. You will replace
the people who keep the thing open
with new people to keep the thing open
and everyone will love you. Even
the ones who love you already
will love you more. More than
anyone has ever been loved.
You will win prizes. You see statues
of you, triumphant, golden, raised
in countless cities all across the world.
You say, bring it on.
Thirty-five days later you are still lost
in the same park. The people who keep
the thing open are not different people.
The people who keep the thing open,
the thing you need to be open,
these people have shut the thing.
The thing is shut.
Shut. The thing is shut.
What can you do?
The thing is shut.
