The Mirror

Remember that night, after the card game We went bumping down the road drunk insulting each other. You said things so vicious the next day you apologized. But I could not recall a one of them. I was robbed. Yours for that most momentous of words: "Vindication"— it is the labyrinthine word. All hail to Mighty Æschylus. Beat the devil, beat the devil, beat the devil, Beat the devil, beat the devil, beat the... (Hear the train Drive steadily on Towards nowhere) [From: Burke, K. (1968) Collected poems, 1915-1967 . Berkeley: University of Caliornia Press. p30]

In the offing: "Holy, holy— Anoint and sanctify." About the edges: "Pray, beseech, give alms, atone by suffering, Penance and repentance. "My fault, My gravest fault, My most momentous, impious, sinful moment." Seek absolution In the Absolute. Aristotle: "There is cause for alarm If either injustice or outrage virtue Has power."                 * * * Vengeance, retribution, Imprecation, malediction— "Lament, lament, But may the good conquer." Guilt through the doing of forbidden things, Guilt by forbearing to do forbidden things— And hope by grief to rid the self of grievances. Estrangement, defilement, sacrifice, Filth, evil, Each idiot, with his special idiom. I knew a man, well-heeled in sadness, And you would be surprised. A stinkeroo he was, and as a guide Exceptionally dirty, a pestilence In his offensiveness. Victim, martyr, guilt, wereguilt, Debt, redemption (that...