[Glenn Wright]

Hi, Jim—

You do an excellent job of conveying the N’s emotional condition. He is a reluctant prophet, like Jonah, who is concealing his fear and anger in order to get along with his friends and co-workers, and he finds that concealment to carry a heavy price.

What is less clear (and maybe it is supposed to be) is the cause of his unease. Is he afraid that his political beliefs, if revealed, would make him unpopular? Is he unwilling to be a whistle-blower at work, fearing retribution from colleagues? Clearly the N feels that there is something wrong that needs to be pointed out forcefully, but he lacks the courage to speak up. At the end, he prays for this courage to be able to be his honest self. I wanted to know a bit more about the situation causing his self-castigation. The title suggests that as a “plebe,” he is a junior member of the organization he wants to criticize, but “plebe” can also mean a member of the disenfranchised, non-patrician class of Roman society.

I especially liked, “I lived in a petting zoo of herbivores,” suggesting that the prevailing social norms forbid any emotional display that might seem aggressive or challenging.

I wondered about S3L2: “I’ve stood as heretic on trial bewitched.” The syntax is a bit tortured, and I was confused because he seems to have said earlier that he avoided revealing his “heretical” ideas.

I enjoyed the poem very much! Hope this is helpful.

Glenn