People Were Hamming It Up/The Moon Like A Marble

people were hamming it up at the Kennedy Center Honors
outside a drizzle, a mist above the Potomac
the recessive angels sang, the small birds

Whitman in the dock, who else
angels have run amuck
somewhere a crystal clear star is shining

unobtrusively
to God belongs all acclaim
I whispered in the rains

to the mists above the Potomac
recitative and the long dawn lost
after the longer night

angels wept in the outer rings
the monuments kept watch
the moon like a marble

stilled the music of the heart
except where it turned to Glass
as on the day after battlefields

and beauty has drained, at last, the cup
while people are hamming it up
at the Kennedy Center

center of whatnot.

mary angela douglas 26 december 2018