Swans


 

A Chinese-American Muslim Under Detention

by Manuel García, Jr.

November 3, 2003

 

Yee, Islam, Guantánamo, Camp X-Ray-Camp Delta, P.O.W.s,
jihad, crusade, oil, empire, liberation,
duty-honor-country, law, power, conscience, God.

Are we back to Wen Ho Lee?,
fifth columnists in our midst?,
terror, Red Scare, Yellow Peril, Suicide Bomber,
hate, ignorance, fearful greed,
colonial war, native troops, going native,
gone over, defect, enemy, "nuke 'em,"
"take care of me," "what's in it for me?,"
tax cut, American way of life, superpower, S.U.V.,
"you're either with us or against us,"
Patriot Act, terrorists, Bill of Rights, Pentagon Papers,
due process, UN dues,
War on Terror, "we will bury you," war dead, victims,
military service, "daddy, what did you do in the war?,"
stock options, real estate, fourth estate,
lies, profit, steal,
"divide et impera,"
an emptiness of the heart.

Arise, people,
awake,
become aware,
question relentlessly.
One of your children is lost in the forest —
wolves are howling —
light torches, and roll back the darkness.


(29 September 2003)


 
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Manuel García, Jr. is a graduate aerospace engineer, working as a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He did underground nuclear testing between 1978 and 1992. He is concerned with employee rights and unionization at the nuclear weapons labs, and the larger issue of their social costs. Otherwise, he is an amateur poet who is fascinated by the physics of fluids, zen sensibility, and the impact of truth.

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Published November 3, 2003
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