Xi Jinping: An Indispensable Aid

‘The Governance of China’ by Xi
In research well serves my inquiry
Into Xi’s visionary headspace,
So on my shelf has a prominent place.
With bedside tables close on the floor
I used him in a household chore:
My smoke alarm battery to remove—
A task of which he’d disapprove.
On the tables I piled my Xi volumes (two each).
The arrangement extended the length of my reach.
A stepstool added another meter;
The mess would jiggle and totter and teeter.
An eighty-year-old up four meters high.
What could possibly go awry?
The books aided stability - reduced the sway.
The battery got changed. Xi saved the day!
Should buy a decent ladder, I suppose,
From Ace, Home Depot, or probably Lowe’s.

—Will Walsh 2020