Another artifact of the Skraelings’

implacable xenophobia the wall

crosses the ocean on decadent runes

and ends in a concrete outlet pipe

under chain-link bent in as if giants

used it for football practice or dump trucks

took a wrong turn off this stretch of pot holes

while the guard hid underneath a smart phone

studying repetitive pornography

and bolt cutters timed to incoming trains

announced a new freedom, access for all

to relics of industrial majesty

broken and paintless as the Parthenon,

but here, now, with a few retired workers

to sing sad songs of our own Golden Age.

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M. A. Schaffner has had poems published in Shenandoah, Prairie Schooner, Agni, Poetry Ireland, Poetry Wales, and elsewhere. Other writings include the poetry collection, The Good Opinion of Squirrels, and the novel, War Boys. Schaffner spends most days in Arlington, Virginia or the 19th century.