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war drums beat
incessantly in
the background
w/cable tv news
running 24/7,
talking heads
asking mostly when
instead of why.
“i rack
up the points
high in the sky”
he says, on R&R at
the brothel which
the US looks the other way
on. it's not slavery when
you have to keep morale up,
they say. it'll pass, they
say.
nintendo generation
with a joystick in the cockpit.
little blips easier to destroy
than human faces --
children and mothers maybe
different but not necessarily
more ugly than ourselves.
unless you watch the tube.
(ironic they call it the
vacuum tube? or do they?)
maybe i just made it up,
like numbers in a market --
up and down, buy and sell...
“all's good and well if we
can have a little more of
your paycheck each week it
would be groovy and would
help with the smart bombs
we need,”
they say.
smart bombs with
uneducated children
roaming the streets,
bored in class, seeing
thru the vaporous cloud
of americana and possessions,
or perhaps being swept up in it,
with eminem as their hero and thinking
the world owes them something.
smart bombs with
uneducated children --
homeless, roaming,
cold, hungry,
exhausted.
smart bombs,
though,
smart bombs.
we gotta get that guy!
we gotta get that guy!!
yeah, let's get that guy
(before he uses the
weapons we sold him...)
flag waves on tv screen.
innocent in shoneys loses
his job because some lady
from down south thought they
“looked a little weird” and
“maybe they were planning something...”
(are you now or
have you ever been?)
flag waves on tv screen
as citizens get locked up
in brigs for their own safety.
small numbers now so no one notices.
(“he deserves not to have a
lawyer or representation,
the swine,” they say, not
realizing one day they
may be in the same place.)
flag waves on tv screen and you
better show yours or
the lady from shoneys
may think you're not
american enough.
and they'll close down
a highway for you.
and they'll lock you up
and inTERRORgate you
for 16+ hours
(14 if you're white...)
©2003, K. Paul Mallasch
K. Paul Mallasch is a poet, journalist and pilgrim (not necessarily in that order). You can see more of his work at MUGround zine.
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