To the Sky, and: Make It Take It, and: The Lyrics to "Winter Wonderland" Were Written in a Sanitarium in Scranton by a Dying Man

Abstract

To the Sky, and: Make It Take It, and: The Lyrics to "Winter Wonderland" Were Written in a Sanitarium in Scranton by a Dying Man Eric McHenry (bio) To the Sky Smoke from the Westar stackis slow and white, or gray.This smoke was fast and black. I probably would've drivenby it anyway.I'm always driving by. The house I used to live inburned to the ground, we say,but it burned to the sky. [End Page 15] Make It Take It The Landlord's Game is a board game demonstrating the present land system and showing clearly the advantages of landlordism—to the landlord. —Advertisement, 1904 Dice gave us a fair shake,and loaded dice gave us a first-person shooter.In the driveway, ghosts are playing makeit take it. Through the bedroom wall my sonis screaming at his computer. Monopoly money is fake.In this it resembles money.Monopoly by any other nameis still The Landlord's Game,an object lesson in the troublewith objects: anything that can be wonis not an argument. When the railroads failto realize the revenueI've already spent on Ventnor Avenue,my strategy is to remain in jail.This is a hundred-year-old housing bubble. Your bed, your supper, isn't going to makeitself, my grandfather used to takethe pipe out of his mouth to tell me,but your money will.Lot by lot, I privatize the public square,bankrupting his great-granddaughter.Lizzie Magie wanted every shaketo be just a little less fairfor fairness's sake;Parker Brothers bought herout with a $500 bill. [End Page 16] America's favorite board game ends in rancor,rage-quitting, an abandoned vintageroadster and an abrogated treaty.The big developer becomes the banker.Advantage: advantage.This land is my land.No man is Manhattan Island,but tonight I'm Atlantic City. [End Page 17] The Lyrics to "Winter Wonderland" Were Written in a Sanitarium in Scranton by a Dying Man Love, between accents, isn't too strong a wordfor the song within this song.Thank you, unfamiliar snowbird,for bringing word that no word is too strong. Thank you, clothes,for nakedness. Winter for spring.All honor to the it in When it snowsfor covering everything and lending, as snow lends,new shapeliness to everything it covers.Thank you, friends,for beginning to look like lovers. [End Page 18] Eric McHenry eric mchenry lives in Lawrence, Kansas, and teaches English at Washburn University. He was the poet laureate of Kansas for 2015–2017. His poems have recently appeared in The Threepenny Review, The Yale Review, and The Times Literary Supplement. Copyright © 2022 Eric McHenry