Voting without elections,
intelligence
gathered by snake-handlers.
Brain without intellect:
only a reddish coil, tightly wound,
in which reside
secret victories,
unexpectable tragedies.
Thomas Crofts teaches medieval English literature and Latin at East Tennessee State University. His poems have appeared in The Madison Insurgent, The Texas Observer and Upstart Crow, as well as several chapbooks. His scholarly work includes articles and book chapters on Arthurian literature and a monograph, Malory’s Contemporary Audience: The Social Reading of Romance in Late Medieval England (Boydell & Brewer, 2006).