The Restraunt Of Kings

A sardonic observation of powerful men dining with their wives, where the ritual of ordering wine briefly reveals — in one second of shyness — the survivor, the killer, or the dealer beneath the outward grace.

A surveillance portrait of powerful men dining, watched with a detective's patience; the typed title spells it 'The Restraunt Of Kings'. 'Reguardless of age / They act old taking chairs with their wives', 'As in a Mass their black eyes are long', and 'the skirts and tables, / are a chorus they will not mention'. Their 'outward glance of grace sings...' of the resumes underneath - 'of the survivor? of the killer? of the dealer?' - men 'Who no one ever knew, / until it came time to order the wine'. The whole poem balances on a single observed flicker: these figures 'were shy, / exactly one second before the observation.' That one second of self-consciousness, caught just before they noticed they were being watched, is the only fracture in the performance, and the restaurant of kings turns out to be a room where power can be seen flinching.