28/30

Best Speech

They heard him speak on the radio last night.
I got home from work and found them glowing
on the couch, like tourists after a day in the world,
total, holographic, postcoital shimmer. You can't be
fooled by these politicians, I said. You know how
it works--a roomful of poets and admen. Every word
an industrial diamond. Even the stripes
of his tie were chosen. It wasn't like that, said Mom.
He was down to earth. Everything he said was right. This
must be what hearing a prophet was like. Near the table
in the dining room, the little transistor recited tonight's news,
and who paid for it.