A Brush-Cut World
A poem about politics written in 1989
Background
I wrote this poem in 1989 and it was published in my high school art and literary magazine. This is probably the only poem I have written about politics. The major events in 1989 would begin with the inauguration of George H. W. Bush in January as the 41st U.S. president, and end with the fall of the Berlin Wall, premier of The Simpsons on FOX and attempt to overthrow Manuel Noriega.
A Brush-Cut World
Someone’s head, caught in the mirror,
Twisting and turning.
Fierce comb putting all into place,
Strays hoarded and fixed.
But strays always fall out of place,
And one stray leads to another,
Banding together, strays begin to knot,
And the comb dulls and breaks.
The head seeks a new mirror,
A new comb shapes the strays,
Mousse holds them in place,
And scissors cut the extremist stragglers.
-Donald Raab
