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So Be It.

 

 

 

          "Let us compare mythologies"
                                   - Leonard Cohen


 

 

         "...would you rather see 12 year old girls
                                                selling their bodies on the street?"
                                   -A California Business Man;
                       defending lax Third World child labour laws,
                                                CBC Radio

When did we lose our humanity?
Was it the day we realized
"grown-ups have forgotten how to play"
and knew we had no choice but to follow them down that road?
When did the world become grey?
So grey that we had to ask
women and children
to ignore the confetti
and balloons
and to please
politely get out of the life boats
and back onto the sinking ship.


         "...in America there are the East-coast types who are...
                a little pretentious;
             and then there's the rest of us!
                              -A Republican Party Commentator;

                                         CNN, Sept'08.

So,it's us...and them,
the "haves"...and the "have-nots",
the "haves"...and the "have-mores".
Its the Yalies
who like to pretend they're cowboys
...and the niggers on the rooftops
who were living on a floodplain;

that two percent of the work force
who are cowed into prisons
without a voice,
without a vote,
without a compass
:the rest of us.


           "...I found myself falling toward
                  a small lake in the city of Hanoi
             ...and an angry crowd waiting there to greet me."
                        -John McCain's Acceptance Speech;
             about his ill-fated 23rd bombing raid over Viet Nam,
          Republican National Convention 4th of September,2008

"London can take it!"
So said Winston Churchill,

that brother in arms of America's greatest generation,
about the firestorm unleashed upon his city.
But not everyone can take bombs on their cities.
They can't take
the cinders and ash,
the noise,
the shock and awe.
They throw the perpetrators into a hole
and forget about them.
They'll do whatever it takes to stop the madness!

"Wipe the lipstick of the pigs and pit-bulls!"

Does it mean war with Russia?
So be it.
Does it mean war for a generation?
So be it.
War in perpetuity?
Amen









Author notes

Edna I don't think this is what your looking for...
but it is where your prompt led me!

In a list

A contest entry

    : , Your review:

    Comment Suggestion: What is your your first impression?
    • Line numbers  • Invite them to read
    : no Cost: 0 free left 0 points, You have (?)

Comments

1 - 19 of 19

  • Gagiikwe
    January 19

    Edit | Reply

    Thrown another mill-end on the fire

    Powerfully written, Ascerbic, Well formatted
    The Hockey Pucker & Captain America, eh? It must be the long winter's nights and the lack of oxygen at bombing heights that drove them both mad.
    Two candidates the have-more Yanks should best forget.
    Actually Palin was the best decision McCain ever made. If he'd picked someone else, he might have won; and then where would America be?

    [We have a food company in OZ named McCain's; whose slogan is "Ah, McCain you've done it again!"]


  • condor gold member
    October 13, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    Hi, mate. I read this, and i got the feeling, it was a little closer to the american political front which i do not know much about. I have heard of the politicians in question but don't know enough to give comment on them. As a poem read purely from a distant point of view, I see a lot of desperation and despair because no one seems to be listening to those that count the most, and that is the down to earth hard knocked people who slave their guts out every day to try and make a life for themselves and there families. Your poem also showed me that those who want to be top of the heap, don't understand what is going on in the real world, always thinking they know what the real people want. Too many revolutions have been spurred on by such disrespect for the ones who are the country, and that is the people themselves. I thought is was a marvelous write and have so much to say that one could go on and on and on..........


    • DogFish silver member
      October 13, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      Thanks for your thoughts, "condor"! Americans are wonderful people; Canadians are heavy consumer of American culture, products and news. Lots of us have family in the U.S.
      America's weaknesses are no different than those of the rest of us, just, as as such an open society in the center of the world stage the seem more flagrant!


  • KayJay
    October 6, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    CNN Headline News! All the news that's fit to print and ignore (who reads anymore?) A sobering write but wonderfully crafted with a strong message. Well done and all the best...
    Ken


  • chills gold member
    October 2, 2008

    Edit | Reply

    Don't know what Edna thinks

    but I think this represents the smile wiped off the faces of all of us thinking that the big powerful US should have some old naaaaam vet and a moose murderer in the hot seat with fingers poised on the big red trigger. Talk about life as we know it coming to an end. But war is what humans do best, seemingly. We certainly try disproportionately hard at it as far as I can see.


  • Exit-Stage-Right
    September 30, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    The Left has to use whatever scare tactics it can muster to discredit a veritable rock star like Palin. Look at the Left's portrayal of the bank bailout... "we have to pass ermergency measures within the week or life will come to an end as we know it. [paraphrasing]" -- nah -- typical Left-wing scaremongering.

    Her statewide favorable ratings were 80% and have run as high as 90-95%. Whether or not she believes in the tooth fairy is pretty inconsequential to what she actually accomplishes.

    And what did she actually say about war with Russia? Only this: that ~if~ Geogia or Ukraine joins NATO and they are in turn attacked, would we (the U.S.) as a member in good standing with NATO defend our new fledgling partner? The answer is OF COURSE YES unless we want to go back to the politics of the 1850's when we'd make a treaty with the Indians and then find reasons to break them!

    I actually like this poem on a variety of levels... it addresses the matter in a delicate way and is not too presumptuous. One side of the truth rings through in every line, but the poem doesn't preclude the possibilities of other explanations--it asks rather than tells at both the beginning and the end which at least suggests some flexibility with the answers.

    (As to the Republican commentator on CNN... it is a shame that OTHER cultures lost their humanity if they ever had any... yes, many countries pimp their young, ues them as drug mules, use them as spies, soldiers or human shields. If America builds a factory overseas and makes it more profitable to the children's masters to have the youngsters weaving baskets or sewing together tennis shoes, ~isn't~ that better than the other possible alternatives? If you put yourself in the child's shoes what would your choice be??????


    • DogFish silver member
      October 6, 2008
      Edit | Reply

      Gary to Jim..

      Thanks for taking the time,Jim, to read my poem and to ruminate on it and share your impressions of the poem, this contest and the state of the world generally! This poem isn't really meant to take stand "left" or "right". If anything, I want to step away from framing the problems of the world in any colour on the "political spectrum". If there were a fourth stanza here I may well have begun it with a quote from the poem by a young muslim girl I read on AP the other day: "We are all created from mud".
      Sarah Palin may have been mocked by some for her comments for war with Russia; but the question by the journalist is frightning. The media play the game of framing the world in little compartment of "right", "left", "white", "black". The papers and TV are too lazy to expain the world in three dimensions.There isn't going to be a war with Russia. Why ask sush a question. Inform people about the real state of Russia,the real issues that are at play, and what sort of real engagement Americans should hope from its next administration...Seven years after 9/11 and the media are still feeding people Pablum
      ...my son says"NOBODY will read any comment longer that LOL".
      we might as well give up JIM!


  • JazzALTernative silver member
    September 22, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    So be it... Nicely done. Kept my interest. I like the use of headlines as a springboard - like the poem Paterson. Also, seeing the flip side of things, instead of black and white and read all over, the poem reads into the white to find the black.


  • Cannonsfire
    September 20, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    Scares the crap out of me, probably because I am one of the 'not many' and getting less by the year. C


    • DogFish silver member
      September 21, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      "soyez de de bonne courage!"
      With a name like "Cannonsfire", I'm sure there is no turning back in adversity!


  • Cat gold member
    September 19, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    "Wipe the lipstick of the pigs and pitbulls!"

    great lines run amuck here.. this is one.


    m


  • Edna Sweetlove
    September 15, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    I thought this was rather good. I loved this quote: "...in America there are the East-coast types who are a little pretentious;and then there's the rest of us".

    I would re-phrase it:
    "...in America there are the redneck types who are a little thick and there's millions of the fuckers; and then there's the rest of us, but not many."


    • DogFish silver member
      September 15, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      ...well, the guy said what he said! You'll have to "come across the pond" and correct HIM, Edna!


  • just mercedes gold member
    September 15, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    I don't know what to say to this. It's a heartfelt poem, and a plea - to deaf ears - but the thought of war in perpetuity, the thought of all that man has struggled to learn, and achieve, thrown out for the greed of a few - I am now very depressed.

    • DogFish silver member
      September 15, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      I'm really a very optemistic person...but it is obvious that a lot of the pain in this world is the unnessessary by-product of selfishness and greed.

      ...but please don't let me depress you!


  • Night Hope gold member
    September 14, 2008

    Edit | Reply

    "A soldier is the first to pray for peace." ~ General Patton

    A pensive, poignant & profound penning, Scribe. One that sings with power & pain, triumph & frustration. Impressive. Good luck in the contest.

    • DogFish silver member
      September 15, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      Thanks for your encouraging thoughts. I wasn't sure that my ramblings would have any clairity at all,"Night Hope"!

      • Night Hope gold member
        September 15, 2008
        Edit | Reply
        Ehhh...Clarity is highly overrated, Scribe. Even when ya spell it straight out, some will question you on your intentions. Just write what you must ~ it's real, true, honest & worth the read, to be sure. The rest of us will remember our own interpretations, the feelings you evoke in us all. That's really all a Poet can hope for, isn't it? To touch someone with our words? You succeeded.

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