The Route To Earthly Paradise Poem by David McLansky

It’s hard to keep it clear and straight
The corruption lines so complex and great
It wasn’t clear who owned who
And what was owed to a sacred few;

Enemies were touted friends
Their eyes were on their glistening end
The restaurant meals, the first class travel
The knots too tight to unravel;

These were the Khans of wealth and power
The Sultans who built the empty towers,
Who scoffed at the poor, the unwashed rabble,
Who complained while erecting their Tower of Babel;

The complex deals over oil and guns,
The soldiers bleeding, laying stunned.
Th buzzing flies feasting on their gums
The languid limbs tanning in the sun.

I buy these breasts that I caress.
I give the order to undress;
She lies naked on the poolside lounge
Surely this is where Paradise is found.