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Poetry

Plato’s New Cave

by Clinton Van Inman

Of course the rooms are filled with shadows
While laser lights and computer programs prove
More cost-effective than fire,
But the cardboard cut-outs and the curtains
Have remained the same;
As well as those old lies that trees are real;
That the way out really goes somewhere;
That math leads more than in circles,
And that the Wizard himself is behind the curtains,
Keeping the whole domino world from collapsing.
Yet only a few poets and down-and-outers dare climb
The arduous way out, as most prefer
To sit and talk about food and sports.

Clinton Van Inman was born in England, raised in North Carolina, graduated SDSU with a degree in philosophy, and is now retired and living in Florida with his wife Elba.