A Moment of Induction

Jerry Bradley

January 6, 2021

Friends, the Geminids have lighted

the path to our uncertain future

as they scattered their electors across the sky

like woodworms eating a violin.

The campaign we conducted is over,

but we still call upon the maestro today

and cross ourselves before him –

spectacles, testicles, wallet, and watch –

as we try to become instruments of his will.

But the darker the sky, the farther we can see.

Look, look, look at what sails by toward

the other side of the world, those dark continents

where whales upend steamships

and people sweeten their tea with whiskey.

We know how we are and why we should not

be that way. So what are we congratulating

ourselves about, that we did not destroy ourselves

any more than the comet could? Still, let us show

nonetheless a moment’s contrition in case one day

like our defeated opponent – ha! – we are obliged

as he is to kneel before his Phaethon overlords.

Jerry Bradley, a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, is University Professor of English and the Leland Best Distinguished Faculty Fellow at Lamar University. He is the author of 9 books and has published in New England Review, Modern Poetry Studies, Poetry Magazine, and Southern Humanities Review.