Paper Poem by Joy Katz

has no alertness. Lying innocently
its paperhood frees it. Paper is a moral rotary.
You can no more object to it than to Switzerland;
it negates the screams of the present hour.
Paper is never causal.
And you can't blame it, ever, for repeating what you said.
Heedless of the cabinet-corners or the fatal
carmine of a gun, paper is rich inasmuch as neutral
and songlike as God.
Paper has nothing to do with our worst news.
It is impossible.