We erected statues
to those leaders
who inspired
or enslaved,

back when things got done.
There was a kind of progress—
armies marched to kill,
factories produced and polluted.

It was a simpler time,
when a nation’s wealth
was calculated in tons
instead of bytes

and the elected were meant to lead
instead of distract.

(An ekphrastic poem written to “The Enigma of a Day” by Giorgio de Chirico, the Living Poetry September Visual Poetry Prompt.)