Abject Lesson

by Paul Hostovsky

They kill the intellectuals first.

It goes back to the old hatred

for the smartest kid in the class,

the one whose hand was always up,

practically levitating in his seat—

“Oh, I know, I know.” But he didn’t

know they kill the intellectuals first;

didn’t know the stolid, bored,

backrow kids who were slow in school

would be swift and decisive

in violence. Where did they learn it?

he asks himself now, blood

gushing from his nose and mouth,

the articulate fingers reaching out

from the sleeves of the well-ironed uniforms

to remove daintily, almost lovingly,

the eyeglasses from the blinking eyes

of the intellectuals first, then dropping them

to the ground, then crushing them

with the boots. So much to learn, dear heart,

say the ironical uniform evil smiles,

which, stitched together, form a kind of

horizon line at the end of the world.

Paul Hostovsky's latest book of poems is Pitching for the Apostates (Kelsay, 2023). His poems have been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, The Writer's Almanac, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, and the Best American Poetry blog. Website: paulhostovsky.com