At the Archaeological Institute of America's Annual Meeting (Ernest Hilbert)

Teehee!! Can't you just picture the crowd described in this poem by Ernest Hilbert? I've never been to an archaeological conference, but what he describes is pretty spot-on for the conferences I have been to.

It's 14 lines - sonnet, but there is no rhyme or particular meter I can find. So it's a modern sonnet, but I like that true-to-form, this sonnet too has a turn at the end. To begin, he's just describing the crowds, the attendees of the meeting. But then at the end, he takes a jab by saying that no matter what they do (and it doesn't seem like he is very impressed by what they are doing) they will before too long die and potentially be the subject matter for future archaeologists. I like that symmetry.

Favorite line: "Veering, talk to talk, they discuss ancient glory, / Building careers, then joining their quarry."