[RCL]

Petersburg’s muse restrained, Ayn shrugged
the Soviet sphere, and soon discovered,
far from Russia, a fountainhead
that fed her streams of US pelf
for writing what appeals to youth,
so unaware of their mortality,
dazed by hormones, seeking identity,
routinely resisting all authority
(remember rebels Dean and Brando?)
restricting them through adolescence—
a phase of passing callowness
that’s cruelty when their older, richer
selves, now seasoned second-handers,*
propagate her selfish anthem,
and namesake Rand’d love to lead ‘em!

*people Ayn Rand despises, repeatedly derides