[I've just received in the mail the O Books anthology enough, a collection of poems and statements assembled in the wake of 9/11. I'm sticking five up without permission because I like them, but also as advertisement for the book, which is available at Small Press Distribution. I regret not being able to include a longer piece by Ibrahim Mahawi, a Palestinian-Scot, but it is three pages of prose.]
Rod Smith
TED’S HEAD
So there’s this episode of Mary Tyler Moore where Ted’s trying to get a raise & after finagling and shenaniganizing he puts one over on Lou & gets his contract changed to non-exclusive sos he can do commercials which is not cool WI Lou & the gang because Ted’s just a brainless gimp & it hurts the image of the news to have the anchorman selling tomato slicers & dogfood so Lou gets despondent because the contract can’t be rescinded but then he gets mad & calls Ted into his office & says, you know his voice, “You’re going to stop doing commercials, Ted” & Ted says “why would I do that Lou?” & Lou says ‘Because if you don’t I’ll punch your face out” & Ted says “I’ll have you arrested” & Lou says “It’ll be too late, your face will be broken, you’re not gonna get too many commercials with a broken face now are you Ted?” & Ted buckles under to force & everybody loves it that Lou’s not despondent anymore he’s back to his brustling chubby loud loveable whiskey-drinking football-loving ways. Now imagine if Ted were Lou, if Ted were the boss. You know how incredibly fucking brainless Ted is, but let’s imagine he understands & is willing to use force. That’s the situation we’re now in as Americans.
Joanne Kyger
DEEPLY IMMORAL ARROGANT AND IGNORANT
For this you get a degree in the government
of My World My Rules
Here’s some of the buzz words —
Foolhardy and Inexplicable
The current president has been called
‘a craven coward’
by the female senator from California
and it’s only May 2001!
And now still
almost a Constant Sense of Outrage
Corporate capitalist oligarchies own the war
Feel Terrified? The ‘war’
Can go where it wants, when it wants
with bizarre expansions
Endless war fear hysteria. Great
There is NEVER an end to profit. There is NEVER enough
There are no ‘acceptable losses’ when it means more ‘money’
There is no end to profit There is NEVER enough
That said again, do we enumerate the stunningly horrible
‘My Way or No Way’ direction of the Bushies
in the world
and start gnashing teeth and going ga-ga
But there’s the voice of the people’ isn’t there?
I hear articulate political observation
that hasn’t collapsed into goofy anxious patriotism
that informs and lifts the veil of secrecy
‘The state of the union is none of your business’
says the Vice
Evil Terrorism or Live Rebellion?
always just out of reach except for the kid from Mann
Terrorist weather yesterday heavy frost and snow
collateral damage to the lemons
and baby Bok Choy
But what about all the hot air produced?
At least I enumerate with outrage
At least I must articulate
At least I know what’s wrong
Read the Tao
February 27, 2002
Harryette Mullen
LAND OF THE DISCOUNT PRICE, HOME OF THE BRAND NAME
My large magnetic card flag proudly displays Old Glory
as I drive to Family Dollar for the makings of a Fourth of July picnic.
I pledge allegiance to my MasterCard
that is honored in more stores than American Express.
Oh beautiful, those spacious aisles stacked with seasonal items!
My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of Lipton instant tea!
I cut out a great recipe I found in the Sunday paper. A Betsy Ross
rectangular cake covered with strawberries, blueberries, and Cool Whip,
with a coupon for the Cool Whip.
On Independence Day, our all-American front porch shows our true colors
With patriotic bunting and bows, only $3.99 a yard (reg. $4.99).
Our backyard guests sit at our holiday picnic table,
thematically decorated with 10 oz. Stars and Stripes plastic tumblers,
matching table runner, paper plates and napkins from Dixie Cup.
As my hubby grills the red meat and toasts the white buns under a blue sky,
our son shows the neighbor kids his World Peacekeepers Patriot Soldier,
a twelve-inch fully poseable action figure that plays the national anthem.
Tom Raworth
OZYMANDIAS
when someone in virginia
looks at an image from a drone
over afghanistan programmed
to seek males over six feet two
where they shouldn’t be
in farming country
presses a button
and blows them to jelly blobs
you know the safe u.s. warrior
in that hi-tech exoskeleton
is not seeing beneath nightscope gaze
its bootlaces being tied together
by tiny naked hands
Fanny Howe
LITTLE WRONGS
When the cold-blooded are proved right —
judgment secure — case complete
we will first see a tangle
of close-ups — gourd and gold
and apples still rotten
rugosa roses down to three petals only
and each holocaust will be an ant-heap
All the little wrongs will come into focus
But who will be glad about this?
...
Even the bigamists
who thought they were splitting
each lie into fragments
too small to be located
might find their trail is following them
And the short-sighted whose faces
are a blur of glee
may begin to establish shapes
around pockets of light and air
in the thicket they are part of
but they won’t sense the force
that gathers those shapes
into actual consequence
until they themselves can’t go forward
And neither will the hesitant
experience their weakness
as an ability
until it gathers into a body
of uncertainties that has influence
When the one big cruelty comes down on us
out of a seeming emptiness
it will be a helium packed with the force
of freely given evasions
so if some still believe
that the cold-blooded alone are responsible
for this power
how will they show that it came from elsewhere
Nothing has increased
Posted by Brian Stefans at February 28, 2003 01:26 AM