November 3, 2003
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(panting)
I heard the president read to schoolchildren over deafening cries of incineration and witnessed the fundamentalist invocation of a crusade against an omnipresent demon that sent all of our defense out of the country to protect liberated markets I wrote bills and licked stamps as patriot acts rescued Congress from a disease and stuffed Thanksgiving turkeys with the carcinogenic discourse of fear fear > anger > hatred > violence fear > stress > anxiety > poor health fear > feeling of helplessness > rally around leader to see through crisis fear > shutdown of critical faculties > ambivalence towards outsiders' deaths fear is the mindkiller (1) I graded exams and taught freshmen about imperialism as cluster-bombs drizzled indiscriminate disfigurement and soldiers and citizens swallowed the green dust-devil of depleted uranium now shunned and denied the basic human rights to a healthy, peaceful, and productive life (deep breath) The Reichstag burned across the way from the Polish untermenschen, democracies all turned away while Slav POWs ate their fallen Sneak attacks sparked retribution, an island hopping quagmire, acceptable radiation-- ghost towns of shadows and fire (exhale) Blue meanies screamed at red scaries, gutted villages, dug mass graves, shared the stench of napalm nightmares in guerilla jungles and caves (deep breath) Triangled stars and crescent moons commit galactic suicide, humanity lost in desert dunes of bulldozers and homicide (exhale) (panting) Please stop a minute so I can catch my breath as I'm just not strong enough anymore. · · · · · ·
Notes 1. Frank Herbert in his brilliant Dune epic. (back) · · · · · ·
Resources Poetry on Swans America the 'beautiful' on Swans Scott Orlovsky is a World History & Cultures, and an American History teacher at Clifton High School in New Jersey. He has a BA in History from the Johns Hopkins University and a MA in History from the University of Colorado. Do you wish to share your opinion? We invite your comments. E-mail the Editor. Please include your full name, address and phone number. If we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country. Please, feel free to insert a link to this article on your Web site or to disseminate its URL on your favorite lists, quoting a few paragraphs or providing a summary. However, please DO NOT steal, scavenge or repost this work on the Web. © Scott Orlovsky 2003. All rights reserved. |
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