Poetry by Neil Carpathios ◊ Street Art in Haight-Ashbury
So, did he ever wonder
privately in his head
how much ash from
how many dead Jews
it would take to fill
a golf ball-size hollow egg
to be surgically inserted
as a prosthetic sperm-
producing apparatus making
him finally equal
to other men?
Could this be the secret
reason he struck out
at the world?
Did it have nothing
to do with politics
or his failed art career
but an anatomical
deficiency, perhaps
made fun of as a boy
in the school showers
or having to sheepishly explain
to a confused lover
who cupped and fondled
finding only one
where experience had taught her
there should be two,
always two?
Was the other kid
or woman
Jewish? Did Adolph
ever read in a trivia book
that Napoleon also
had one testicle?
Was it an epiphany?
Did he figure death
and conquering
were the only ways
to prove his manliness
to himself
and the world?
Could it all have been averted
with the proper therapy,
understanding his macho tendencies?
Has no one ever studied this—
the I’ll Show Them, One Testicle Short Syndrome?
Did Alexander the Great have just one?
Genghis Khan?
Mussolini?
Stalin?
Caesar?
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