Sunfall
Yaron Dotan created “Midas in Love” independently of Keith's poem. We’ve juxtaposed them to create a joint depiction of the ruler. Yaron lives in Los Angeles. To see more of his art work, visit www.yarondotan.com or instagram: yaron_dotan
By Keith Holyoak
Will the Mandate of Heaven remain with our illustrious sovereign?
In a lake of wine naked men and women
Drank as they swam to service
The king on his island
Before the axe came down the counselor said
Our enemies rejoice
They call you tyrant
King Jie laughed who dares disturb the sun
Until the sun burns out
This earth is my land
The people cried oh sun when will you perish
Better to scream in rage
Than cower silent
His concubine dreamed a greater sun arose
Hurled the old one earthward
Shrunken its fire spent
The unicorn returns and now the phoenix
Perched on a sapling pear tree
Takes flight defiant
Keith Holyoak lives in California
From Oracle Bones: Poems from the Time of Misrule (Goldfish Press, 2019) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43591601-oracle-bones
A new form of political satire—the state of current American politics reimagined as a sequence of poetic warnings to a foolish and dissolute king who ruled back at the dawn of Chinese civilization. The dissolute and incompetent King Jie was overthrown, ending his dynasty.
Oracle Bones is dedicated to the memory of Heather Heyer, murdered by a neo-Nazi while protesting their rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017. “If you’re not enraged, you’re not paying attention.”