Dinner Guest
--Tony Hoagland

The dinner guest goes upstairs to use the ladies room,
and after she has washed her hands, just out of curiosity
takes a peek in the medicine cabinet- where among
the Nyquil and Ativan and dental floss she sees
a bottle labeled Male Enhancement Formula,

—and is puzzled for a moment, and then amused.
Is this the funny little thing, she wonders,
that has caused so many wars? so many
murders and exploded buildings?
so many smashed down doors and refugees?

And in a way, of course, she is correct. The need to
engineer an outcome, the desire to
feel confident that what you want to happen
will happen when you want—
as an explanation it explains so much.

Downstairs, re-seated in her chair, the guest
picks up her knife and fork,
but now her appetite is gone.

Outside it’s dark; inside,
the candles lick their yellow tongues,
and at the table, the final course
of big ideas is being served—

the men are saying
that injustice can be eliminated.