Capital Idea

Shopping in the Capitals
Filling up the home
With all sorts of articles
Makes a kingdom come

Till a poet at the port
Of Byzantium
Rustles leaves and stops me short
That I sail with him

But where Capital is king
Citizens are stuck
And we would do anything
For another buck

Here the towers and tourist sites
Cancel nothingness
News and noise and neon lights
Brighten the abyss

But the poet’s made me look
Toward Byzantium
I cannot put down the book
Might I sail with him?

There’s a portrait in the tome
Dashing silver hair
Sailing to Byzantium
Shall I meet you there?

© James B. Nicola

James B. Nicola, a returning contributor, is the author of six collections of poetry: Manhattan Plaza, Stage to Page, Wind in the Cave, Out of Nothing: Poems of Art and Artists, Quickening: Poems from Before and Beyond (2019), and Fires of Heaven: Poems of Faith and Sense (2021). His theater career culminated in his nonfiction book Playing the Audience: The Practical Guide to Live Performance, which won a Choice award.

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