Epistle to David Bazan

Pedro the Lion,
     the cute untame

-beautiful-

                  Mr. Bazan,
why so melancholy?
Do Bands With Managers upset you?
                         Is it our undying
love
for American Flags?



you were no Cowardly Lion
who found
              a heart-

You were a fierce King
who relinquished
        his shield-

for Fewer Moving Parts.

Your unsmiling face is all we see
         slowly shaping the American youth

We can't see the pen and pad,
the Cold Beer and Cigarettes,
the Christmas Whiskey-

the God you don't see unshaping you
             more
                    and
                            more

W. K. Medlen