Mere Days Erode What Withstood Storms

You can’t maintain a status quo,
You can only pine for status

Quo ante. Sometimes a poet,
One who feels the worst damage done

To a particular people
By some most recent status quo

Ante, will argue there’s only
Poetry that’s for or against

The status quo, and any poem
Not definitely against it

Automatically preserves it.
Often this claim’s made by the best,

Culturally high-status poets.
We demur. Poems also corrode

The quo ante supporting it.
There is no status immunized

Against the ongoing of change,
And often those who cling the most

To a dwindling capacity
To ante are those who expose

The fragility of the quo.
The violent are violent,

And if a poem prevented those
From harming hard lives, pro ante,

That could be a good thing, but most
Poems muddle along complaining

And observing and appearing
Like most other poems. You could claim

The bulk of those are fallen leaves
Clogging the gutters you want clean,

But you up there on your ladder,
With your gloves and rake mucking out

The ante quo status backed up,
Are the one maintaining peaceful,

Normal transitions of seasons.
Your home is status quo ante,

And whether you aim to maintain,
Renovate, or start a tear-down

To build your next Jerusalem,
You’re one more part of the changing.

We’re all a part of more changing,
Piling up pasts that keep changing.