He read the word “plinth” in a poem —
a foundation, a brick. In the backyard,

he had placed blocks under the monk and
Confucius, the Buddha already sitting

on a flat stone, all plinths — foundations.

The country, right now, where is the found-
ation, the block, the solid rock? With no

plinth — with no foundation upon which to
build a nation — plinth — a foundation,

a brick, a block, a rock, a place for
the nation to sit on a rock for a while

in security and tranquility and figure
out, like The Thinker, what to do with

futurity and posterity. What is the
country’s plinth, where is it, if we

sit will it still fit? The Constitution
and Bill of Rights — the “plinth,” on

this foundation, block, rock — demo-
cratic plinth — we still can stand.