Prong
It’s best be humble
Before skewering occurs
On any brain-prong of our own
Polarities. Be humble not
(I hasten to adjust the claim) because
Of god, by god, whose names need no
Inserted caps nor yet
Inverted commas if you are
By nature skeptical about
The licenses and niceties. (Absurd
We should approach the heavens
With a yardstick. Arguments are ever
Fatally in love with punctuation. Hell,
I cotton to a semicolon now
And then myself, but not
To parse an ars.) Best just
Be humble since we can’t
Tell much apart, the root
Of criticism from the
Flower, or the names
From someone’s numb-struck
Nuncios. Of course,
I could be wrong.
(A single listener still
Could love the song.)
—Heather McHughs
—found in Muddy Matterhorn (2020)