XVI

Such egregious sponsors of fame | post-Georgics
All in line here · They should have known Quaderni
Stands as book six mastered and still replaying
             Gramsci in Hades

What is progress asked Mussolini not in
Those precise words nor I would guess in earnest
He had men well-stationed in laws attend him
             Croce Gentile

Blazoned EP also sent in credentials
I could hold sound arguments credit bêtises
Centos-worth late lyrical fine fiasco
             Clipped out of logic

Making this mid-strophe a formal target
Cracked eugenics casting alive the deutschmark
Value intrinsic no more gold or silver
             Pace Judentum

Deem of laws excising the wicked poet
Through which process or by what form of trial
Pound attained his rôle as the grillo’s compère
             Preach at self-hazard

Gramsci scribed his will as a dead man risen:
Veins of durance granted to certain spirits:
Cancel Hades write purgatorially
             Tried the assayer

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This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 30 Number 1 , on page 81
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