Captains of Industry
Melville have you seen his Moby Dick
Can you believe it
When that book came out it really didn’t hit it
With the critics
And Captain Ahab’s given name was Sam
Yes, old Sam Ahab
Which spelled backwards reads Bahamas
Where Columbus first landed
Which is still getting battered
By the storms and the heat
Curling up from all the ovens
of the cannibals.
Hyperbole?
Just ask the Lucayans
And all those consumed
By Cristóbal Colón, and other captains
Of industry
Transmuting with their alchemy
The jungles
And the mountains and the rivers
of the globe
Into pollution, slums, and graves, and guns,
And gold
