LEARNING CURVE

LEARNING CURVE

you tried to
bomb history
whilst
   we weren’t watching
looking the other way

some fog of
war,
        this,

given how you smokescreened
the whole of humanity

whilst you
gave it your best shot
blowing the social, the economic,
the political foundations
of our world
(last faint possibilities of
a rational world)
horizon to horizon
to kingdom come

first take you had
was that you
might decapitate us,
a single bomb to do it,

as the logic deepened
carpet bombing persuaded
devastate everything
send back
to the stone ages
before boots on the ground

they are reading
about you now
       the kids of the future

of gross military stupidity
you have become
a cautionary tale

history
     rewriting you, how
best to set up
the punchline

last laugh as always, hate
to be
    the one
(steepest ever learning curve)
to give away the game
    


PENNSYLVANIA

PENNSYLVANIA

boots on the ground
boots on the ground

to save America
the Army of Northern Virginia
and its divine General
needs
   boots on
the ground

so they have headed into town
looking for cobblers
having
no boots at all

no way
to save America
without boots
on the ground

the town
now swarming
with gray and
butternut brown

fixing their feet
whilst another America
is moving towards them
a blue America
bitterly opposed
to schism

which might not
want to watch
from a distance
as slavery bleeds
the heart
for another
thousand years

boots on the ground
meeting boots on the ground

one way
or another
America will be decided
over the next three days

WELL, I’M THE ONLY ONE HERE

WELL, I’M THE ONLY ONE HERE

move along
nothing iconic
to see
here

no mind-bending moment
of Bickle improvisation

no need
to watch
bug-
eyed

start
to understand

what it means
to imagine yourself
saviour
    go full vigilante

with  a .44 magnum
and array of
backup guns

street cleansing
ethnic cleansing

no huge leap
of the imagination

to imagine you
sprout wings, twin
jet thrusters
targeting and
guidance systems

a battery of
air to ground ordinance
to sort
    every problem out

CHOSEN PEOPLE

CHOSEN PEOPLE

you were supposed
to teach us the truth
bring us closer to God

did you
perhaps forget;
have greater priorities

act as an example
lead children
along the path
of righteousness

not carpet bomb them
target their classroom
blast them into
shattered fragments

bits
everywhere

meant to lead
towards the light
not steal and
kill to survive

live
at others’ expense
burn your way
to supremacy
brutally self-
convinced

lighting your way
with the utter
worst of cleansing fire

TANGO

TANGO

because thus
therefore

do it yourself syllogism
waiting for you
to inflict it
upon the world

causal explanation 
         veering into justification

passing Go
getting out of jail free

it takes
two to tango, three to
fling themselves into
one monstrous
menage

and here, by pure coincidence,
we have a syllogism
meant to bend
the world into its argument

convince us all
turn
    us around

however fucked up the premises,
skewed the entire process

leading to,
bleeding into

tango
mango
     no
fandango

words spilling out
both sides of your mouth

BLESSINGS

BLESSINGS

I am sitting on the ground
under this tree
counting my blessings,
rolling the dice,
writing to you

out there
       just
out of the frame

people getting stoned
being tortured, bombarded,
bombed

all for democracy
is a good policy

to give them all
a good life
key part of the plan

and for your right
and duty
virtue
of your
position of
power

to deceive and deride,
tell us lie
after lie
insult our intelligence

as reality
cracks, the fabric
tears

the tapestry we were
living for now
reduced to
an
oil soaked sliver
a blood stained shred

upon
which once

a history of hope, table
of blessing

THOSE LITTLE GIRLS

THOSE LITTLE GIRLS

let us not
be too hasty
to condemn

let us not
rush to conclusions

little girls now
all of them I do
believe under
the age of ten

but give them
another ten, twenty years
who knows, who can forsee,
what they might not
grow up as,
horribly change into

who can show me
their note books,
their sjetch pads

assure me
there everything is
as the weepy weak press
are telling us

pictures of Mom and Dad
the sun, the tree, a house,
a swing, a cat
themselves
     in their best dress

little poems and prayers
celebrating life
and love

like normal little girls
our Western girls

and not, as I am more
inclined to believe,
curses and tirades
calls for
   a world full
of destruction
and death

drawings of drones, pictures
of missiles raining down
vengeance on
bad bad cities
ballistic rockets shooting
up into space
with (drawn in red
red
   blood red crayon)

blood red noses
and fiery tales

who
can dispute this
deny
this possibility?

the evidence
disappeared

PRICE TO PAY

PRICE TO PAY

you need to
double down on your
best work
your precious insanity

order now for your
precise spot Heaven
regardless of Sin
irrespective of morality

help the angels out
witg a concerted push
in the right direction
thermonuclear weapon
without which
no Armaggedon
war of wars
death of the planet
supreme annihilation

book your spot to
the ultimate spectacle
of the death
of mankind

untold suffering
      the trade off
for this
select salvation

sanctioned upon highest
fair price to pay