The Ballad of the Beaver Named Sisyphus

As I wade the river, pulling the white branches,
nicely gnawed, from the culvert,
I wonder at the sheer
cussedness of the god that
condemned Sisy-
phus
to keep building
and building again
his home in the floodpath. . .
That despite finding his
mate or brother
(no, I didn't check)
dead and frozen,
he doesn't quit.
Just finds another tree
and begins
again
and
again.
Your average
Republican voter,
tying together, again and again,
the wood of his little
brown
life.

Julie Li
February 2, 2006