The dome was nearly finished in the war
between the states. It’s open once again
and smoking since the 9th of Thermidor
or height of the pandemic. William Penn
is down for Thursday at the guillotine
but no one is expected to attend.
Your critic panned The Ruins of the Mall:
Avoid this Major Flop at Empire’s End.
But print no longer fits the protocol
and no one reads your online magazine.
In short, here’s lookin’ up your old address.
The White House shut its doors a year ago.
So much for neoclassical, I guess.
The columns that remain are lying low
and Lafayette has gone home to the queen.

October 16, 2020

Rick Mullin’s poetry has appeared in various journals and anthologies, including American Arts Quarterly, The New Criterion, The Dark Horse, and Rabbit Ears: TV Poetry. His latest collection is Lullaby and Wheel, published by Kelsay Books in 2019. He is a journalist and painter living in northern New Jersey.