TANGENTIAL

TANGENTIAL

as the camera pans
and tracks

keenly observant
as the eye of God

    note all of it
down
take it
      into evidence:

here a triptych of images
from the bowels
of Hell
            avenues of billboards
picturing the unspeakable

and here words untethered, words
     of wild association

and here
in consequence, dancing
                         on fresh graves

grinding down the monuments
crushing the flowers

all we
need is a river
                    coiled like
a serpent
        and we have apocalypse now

      *****

Excuse me
          apologies for

throwing you into this headlong
without thought of a preamble

felt you are
so familiar with this
terrain
          no introduction required

observe us now: myself
and an odd band
of philosophers
                in open formation

making huge headway as
we navigate the path
between
      battlefields

move from battlefield to
battlefield
      observing with horror

how far we have slid
from regime of rational truth

and the care
of the wise gods

finding the think tanks and
complexes and factories

structures wide
as whole cities, reaching
upward to Heaven
                      portals to
supremacy

foundaries for the steel and ghe stone for us to build
our lush monuments

utterly expressive of our
desire
     for eternal comfort
and peace

and as
      for the price paid

we do not
         let it run away from us
but
   (in tight formation now)
keep it
      carefully monitored

the debt in hard currency
always balanced
in blood

for philosophically speaking
this is
    a landscape of division
cruel dialectic
and dichotomy

those who did this finding
means to speak that
horror

      terrifying their madness
out of them

sculpting the darkness
                    of the species in
such
exquisitely warped
                      form

HYPOCALYPSE NOW

HYPOCRALPSE NOW

loving the smell
of white phosphorous
in the morning
will he still love
you if you script
all this a la Apocalypse Now?

will he promise you
sign of sanction and
spiritual favout
that is
    yet another
overwhelming victory

or is he taxing your faith
testing your strategic patience
by making this
a possible new
battle of Stalingrad,
advances only in inches
forward or
     underground
stop start
stop start

pity when it comes to
kill ratios even if
targeted and
supremely intentional

collateral damage figures
(including toddlers, infants
women and pensioners)
cannot
        be allowed to
seriously count

but there is no Kurtz and ghere
is no river

             no Dantesque journey
through the circles
of Hell

which makes no sense in a wotld
where it has become
impossible to differentiate between
    our
      angels and demons
      gods and devils

where everything and
everyone have their unique insane
      totally
clueless plan

       to deal with the shadow of
all evil

by massacring everybody
since
         we can no longer
be saved

cannot
       save ourselves