DARK GEMINI

By Delaware Poet Francis Poole

In ancient astrology

Dark Gemini is the opposite

of its twin Light Gemini.

Dark Gemini is a deceitful huckster,

the patron of thieves

and the inventor of lying.

Incapable of empathy

Dark Gemini cares only for itself

and feels no guilt or remorse

for its actions which harm others.

Its planet is a volcanic asteroid

with a fake smile.

Its porcine eyes resemble pools of tar.

Around its neck it wears a string

of skulls.

Its yellow breath smells of smoke

and excrement.

By now you should know

who I am talking about.

Dark Gemini is like the loose boat

in that Marilyn Monroe movie

drifting and bouncing on the Niagara River

toward the falls and the

deadly rocks below.

The only thing between it

and disaster is a small island

called the election.

We are all standing in that rudderless boat

holding on to whatever we can

hoping to leap clear

at the last minute

and watch as it careens along

in the roiling rapids

and vanishes over the edge

into the foggy mists below.

We cast our votes like we were

throwing each other life preservers.

As if our one vote was going

to keep the planets from

teetering further out of orbit

and cool down feverish Earth

to save the smoking hub

of this wheel.

When you put a mark

with black or blue pen

on your ballot

think of the 230,000

who are voting with you

each making their mark

in a tiny coffin-shaped box.

The dead are watching with our eyes

and listening with our ears.

I think I hear them speak

as one chorus,

Stand back and stand by.

 

  –Francis Poole