(preface: this piece was written in december, 2001, and i was pissed off!!!!)
inside i feel conflicted
here in this "powerful"
and "free"
american country
where its citizens are saturated
with words and images
of war and hate
of destruction and death
and taught to believe
the jargon
the propaganda
the loss of innocent lives
as merely
an "eye for an eye."
("an eye for an eye creates a society of blind people.")
who scramble down the pedestrian-choked sidewalks
of rockefeller center consuming their insatiable, capitalist needs
while red, flashing lights dance across the nbc studio's outdoor billboard
announcing "victories"
cities lost and "war criminals" gained
and I walk by
in my newly acquired brown, leather boots
and burnt-orange, 200+ u.s. dollars bloomingdale's coat
made in india, or perhaps it is mexico, or even hong kong
but surely it is not
the states.
we cry
that we now stand "united"
and proud to be americans
while billion-dollar u.s. corporations still deny
their own fellow patriots a worthy place
in the job market
by manufacturing their products abroad
the mark up making a world of difference
only to the pockets
of those elite, rich few,
of those same men who create
these guns, bombs and wars
and who we vote into office
time after time again.
so have a merry fucking christmas
(or hannukah, or kwanzaa, or ramadan
or whatever the fuck you practice)
may we reap the blood, sweat and tears
of the billions of other inhabitants of this Earth
may we clink our crystal champagne glasses
and toast "cheers"
"salud"
"prost"
"sante"
to this new year
yet another year
when others will starve, freeze and die
suffering
struggling
to survive
from one day to the next
while we grow
fat and miserable
and yet always secure in the knowledge
that tomorrow will always come
and that what we put off today
can always be done.
i await the moment
when this finely-tuned sheltering bubble
will burst.
--chc
(i still relish the hard, recklessness of anger as it pours off of
my tongue whenever i recite this poem ~ YESssssss!!!)
