John Scopes

in the style of Robert Browning

A soda. There’s a chimpanzee downtown

At Robinson’s, right now, drinking soda,

And all the while reporters scrawl and laugh

To see this monkey—Joe Mendi, it’s named—

With straw in furry hand ten feet from where

I first agreed to do this thing. Is this

What it was for? A headline, scores of them,

To show the circus came to Dayton? I’m

Unsure about it, George, unsure of how

This serves our cause, or Dayton, Tennessee—

Why do you laugh…? Of course I know we’re in

The news! But to what end? Evolution’s name,

And Dayton’s name, are tied now to a chimp

Who sips a soda on a stool, a joke,

A flannel-suited mockery of all

We know is true. …I won’t. My lips remain,

While angry, silent, mum. But answer me:

Am I a puppet, Mr. Rappalyea?

I thought I joined a team that day, but shots

Are fired about my head and I call none.

You set the meeting, asked me there,

Contrived arrest for something I’d not done

And I agreed, to end this backward law.

I will not spill; the story’s safe with me:

“A drugstore argument, a broken law.”

And not at all confederacy, and not

A plan. None will admit the origin.

They can’t—ungilded candor lacks the shine

Demanded by ambition. Robinson

Is slinging drinks all day (his drugstore will

Replace its fountain when all’s said and done,

Just wait), and Bryan wields his Bible, verse

By verse declaiming holy words in town

So people nod “Amen.” And Darrow, he

Spins yarns and charms and holds his court, a king

And clown commingled. George, I’m nauseous. I

Just want to swim. July’s thick heat just grows

Unbearably, and swim I do, but they

(reporters, always more reporters) stand

With notepads. I can have no peace. It’s not

Your name they know, the mastermind behind

The scenes. It’s mine. You choose to speak

But I am forced to hide. I’ll always hide.

You knew that, George, I think… a brand new hire,

Fresh out from university... The books

Will say that Tennessee v. Scopes took place

In 1925. That’s not the end

For Scopes. They print my name, not yours. The case

Soon ends, but I will never teach again.