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If We Were Someplace Else
If we were someplace else
say
one of the little guys
a part of the old soviet block
and he was someone else
say
Slobodan Milosevicwho would be screaming for his head
A little much
you say
Let’s bring it closer
to reality
say Saddam
was actually
(oh, he was )
torturing people
holding them in secret
(oh, he did)
in secret prisons
and actually didn’t
(oh, he didn’t)
have weapons of mass destruction
isn’t that reason enough to
(oh, we did)
invade
Incidentally he does
(torture I mean)
and we do
(have weapons of mass destruction,
I mean, really, really a lot of weapons)
so I guess
no visit to the Hague
for George
The Beat Goes On
I don’t trust the times
New York or LA
she said
It only takes a certain stance
and viola you too can or can’t
ride Air Force One
Not that I blame them exactly
looks pretty nice in all the movies
the plane I mean
and its not like there is a fifth estate anymore
the democrats were accused of taxing it
out of existing
according to the latest Washington Post report
the administration of fattening it
till it exploded
spatter gooey things all over the vice president’s
new hunting vest
Not that one is morally or ethically
superior to the other
she continued
a tear developing in the corner of one eye
one tortures
one is quietly complicit
Hard to take the moral high ground on this one
They speak for the camera’s
directly into the voting machines
imagine the levers being pulled
the programs being corrupted
counting the votes
sweeping the bodies under the rug
no photo opportunities
as they slide through the airports in secrecy
One poaches
gathers illegal data
one allows the harvest to continue
firing warning shots at a tidal wave
both eyes beginning to water now
filling the granary with key word correlations
that will not feed
the homeless
educate an immigrant
water a single flower
she cried
tears raining from her heart
Tell the Story
There are stories to be told
and ways to tell them which light the soul
she told me bluntly
in her kind and gentle manner
Paint the people
paint the picture
spin it round until we see bold as the nose on our face
quiet as a dead man breathing
She buried her husband in his FEMA shirt
pre 911
After Katrnia
she said
in her matter of fact way
I felt so guilty about that
I mean
having FEMA no longer something to be proud of
but on reflection
the shirt has probably disintegrated by now
my husband too
has probably disintegrated by now
and FEMA certainly has
That’s what I mean
tell a story
Like Jonathan Schulze
twenty five
USMC
A delayed casualty of the Iraq war
according to his Vietnam Veteran father
Two purple hearts
and a six month old daughter
Number 26 on the list
the waiting list for admission to the VA Hospital
He committed suicide at his home in New Prague, Minnesota
while we debate funding for a surge
That’s what I mean
tell a story
