Politics on a Desert Island: A Poem by David Rogers

Id accuses Superego
of being too conservative
Superego says Id
is worse than a spoiled
two-year-old
Ego shuttles back and forth
in futile attempts
to reconcile the two
Meanwhile the signal fire
has burned low
The letters read S-O
Soon that S will die away too
Ego notices what’s happening
but before he can find wood
Id begins to hurl coconuts
at Superego
They mostly miss
but Ego intercepts a few
cracks them open
ferments the milk
heaps the shells on the fire
in no particular order
so now it spells nothing
not even O
Tipsy Ego sympathizes
briefly with Id
til an errant projectile
knocks him cold
Superego looks inland
to the mountains
wonders how it would be
to live alone there
make paintings of familiar animals
deer buffalo horses alley cats
that will seem to move
in flickering shadow
on the walls of the cave