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Rumpus Book Club“Work Order,” by T.R. Hummer
Work Order
For the love of God, Montressor!
—Poe
Stone is required. Mud. Wood. Strong hemp rope.
A thousand barbarian slaves from the western provinces—
Dispensible, so let there be replacements ready on demand.
The blueprints are completed but the plan is simple: build it
Straight as a ray. Let no impure medium refract it.
Make it as long as necessary. Make it even longer.
Make it too high for climbing, too adamantine for piercing,
too deeply foundationed for radical undermining.
Make it permanent as hatred. It is built to divide us
from the others. Sweat is required. Blood. Crushed bone. Skin.
A river of bile and vitreous humor. Make it costly and perfect.
When it is finished, the others will be cancelled.
It obliterates their eyes, their hair, the obscene color of their skin.
When it is finished, a fatal peace will comfort
The survivors. When it is finished, and only then, let there be light.
March 30th, 2010 at 6:52 am
Yes, I use this poem to help draw out the absolute malice of Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.” This poem nicely evokes the inverted universe of Montresor -or is it our universe? “Let there be light” is commanded only after the malevolence of creating anything has been made manifest. For the love of God, indeed – he, flooder of mankind, destroyer of Babel, demander of Isaac and Jesus’s innocent blood, Job’s torturer…