Robert Ronnow
The Ever Maddening Mandala
Rose Pogonia
My son wants a gun to defend his wife
from what he’s seeing on the street—
drug-addled homeless men, altercations
between drunks and drunk drivers,
ambulances chasing fires, hearses
moonlighting as taxicabs, ballots stolen by armed militias.
The deficiencies in our systems of governance,
local and global, have gotten the attention
of the citizenry. They know something’s
wrong but not what to do about it. I see
they are lost, looking for
the magic moments or cataclysm to come.
I found a bog plant—
Rose pogonia—an orchid
hidden in the leatherleaf
underneath two tamaracks.
We kayak to the huckleberries
and watch the whirligig beetles go round and round.
Copyright 2026 Robert Ronnow.