The Logic of Yoo 21

Symptoms of decay did not include Lady Gaga or Smartphones
though hymen-reconstruction operations he thought
would qualify, as well as double-eyelid surgery & buttock enhancements
creating the perfect curves of the Latina, according to The New York Times
or gay boys jumping off George Washington’s bridge
or Saw or tribal tattoos when all the tribes run casinos
or snow the color of dirty lattes or vegans or gastronomic foams,
SUVs named after Greek warriors, Star Wars prequels,
or the day he downloaded Russian porn, divorce & step-parenting,
but Gibbons wrote, “If all the barbarian conquerors
had been annihilated in the same hour, their total destruction
would not have restored the empire of the West.” He was not
ready to wither & rot, though he too might
“prefer the simple tyranny of the barbarians”
to the “the injustice of the rich,” if by simple Gibbons meant evil
always wears black & by tyranny he meant obstinancy & barbarian
a lubber like him. The problem with Yoo
was not that he might fuck his ex-wife, if by fuck he meant the opposite
of love & by wife meant what’s yours is mine but that
he would want him to watch & learn & nod & ascent,
take video, destroy the video & appreciate
the good work he had done for love, for freedom, for empire, for him.