THE DECONSTRUCTION OF BACCHUS AND THE DECOMPOSITION OF MEDEA

Differdá razed a pyramid;
Cicero built a period.
And Freud rode in euphemism,
While Lily wrote in euphuism.

After the trope of the century,
Though structure buried organicism,
Truth was still a tree in James’s hall,
Growing or petrified, but enduring all.

Rhetoric may depose rationalism;
Science may defer to socialism.
The Maenads may impose egalitarianism,
But what force can save the corpse from imperialism?

Can humanism raise Jason’s children
Or distinguish the blame of Dido’s pyre?
What's so hot about the plunder of adultery?
What's so correct about the politics of desire?

(Tucson, Arizona, Winter 1990)