John, Charles is one of America's foremost poets. He's in his late sixties, I believe. He has been a great friend and mentor to me for nearly twenty years. I hate it when someone opines that a writer's work is "essential," but in Charles' case I think that argument can be made.
I know his work pretty well, so I know this sonnet. Charles has a rare gift for writing poems that engage politics and morality at the highest level. Obviously, the title of this poem engages Yeats and his Easter poem. Charles is unafraid of swinging for the fences.
He is unstinting in his generosity to youngsters, to me, to Greg Williamson, most recently to Nick Friedman. Get his Selected Poems.
I love a sonnet with a killer last line, and that word choice, "wired" is perfect.
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