The Transcendentalists would turn over in their graves


The Transcendentalists would turn over in their graves
Emerson at Harvard today
Thoreau on the Merrimack and Concord, gliding past glitzy waterfront casinos
Alcott would have a fit over No Child Left Behind
They would not recognize 21st C. Boston, their New England
Emerson would likely snatch a blackberry
From a passerby and Thoreau it into the Charles River.
Where would Thoreau walk, there are no wild paths anymore leading to Walden Pond.
Can you imagine Bronson Alcott ranting on Facebook?
He’d be as bad as me quitting and starting, several times a year.
Where would Thoreau shop for building supplies—Loews’s?
Where would the Transcendentalists source groceries?
Buy a book?
Who buys books?
Veterans of the Civil War and civil disobedience,
Would they recognize today’s wars?
Would they occupy?

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