Gerald Yelle
Safe in Our Alabaster Chambers
We can safely say we don’t need saving.
And we know being meek isn’t all
it’s cracked up to be. There’s never
been anything subtle about us either.
We’d call each other blow boy
and say things like “such the little one.”
No subtlety there unless you need
a diagram. Unless “nucular” does
mean something different from
“nuclear,” unless pronunciation really
is a mark of intelligence. Unless
you’ve heard it all before and it’s no
longer funny. Unless your sense
of humor’s so dry it drives you to drink.
Other work by Gerald Yelle