1 In the desert there’s no sign
that says Thou shalt not eat stones, 2
though behind every great fortune there’s crime 3
as Offred can confirm from the front line
in Margaret Atwood’s scarlet tomes.
In the desert there’s no sign
says To Kill a Mocking Bird is fine;
Scout comes from a lawyer’s home,4
knows behind every great fortune there’s a crime.
The Sun Also Rises with so much wine
that lost generations hold their heads and groan,5
ask where in the desert is the sign
with epitaphs by Gertrude Stein,
Balzac, Lamb and Sufi quotes? Who owns
the great fortunes behind words? Is it a crime
for The Godfather to outshine
his author? In Mesopotamia, stones6
in the desert gave Hercule Poirot a sign
that Agatha’s fortune would grow from crime.
1↑ “If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.” Juan Ramón Jiménez
Epigraph for Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
2↑ “In the desert there is no sign that says, Thou shalt not eat stones.” Sufi proverb
Third epigraph for The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4↑ “Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.” Charles Lamb
Epigraph for To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
5↑ “You are all a lost generation.” Gertrude Stein
Epigraph for The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
