Emperor Magog
- Emperor Magog
The Apocalip Magog shall . . . Emperise the world.
—Thomas Heywood
Glory to Magog for addled things,For the slow load swinging on the broken bough,The cock-eyed cat that treads upon his whim;Some vexed urchin, tearing off a monarch's wings;Downfalls schemed and plotted—scrape, wrangle, and row,And all enemies, their giddiness in fighting trim.
All things riddled, libidinal, stupid, strange,Whatever is sickly, prickled (who cares how?)From slow to mulish; muddle-brained to dim.He slavers-forth whose joy is to derange:Change him. [End Page 89]
Rachel Loden is the author of Dick of the Dead (Ahsahta), which was short-listed for both the PEN USA Literary Award for Poetry and the California Book Award. Loden's first book, Hotel Imperium (Georgia), won the Contemporary Poetry Series competition and was selected as one of the ten best poetry books of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post's Poet's Choice column and the Best American Poetry series. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, a Fellowship in Poetry from the California Arts Council, an &NOW Award, and a grant from the Fund for Poetry.
