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Sonnet "On a Paint Job"

 

No disrespect for warriors’ duties meant,
Just pure disdain for those who hold the leash,
Nor left nor right, no able leader sent:
We drown in media noise and smug pastiche.
The images of detailed trucks and cars,
On guzzling hoods a nameless soldier’s face
Does not inspire; now waging war on stars:
Creating out of air imagined race.
We flex our might against a peaceful sky
Because we can, there is no other need.
Did Moses’ burning bush e’er get so high
As to be swayed by reasons of blind greed?
  Superior the current shepherd? No,
  And I for one shall smile when he would go.

Author notes

I was inspired to write this after getting one of those bullshit patriotic e-mails with pictures of a gas guzzling SUV detailed with flags and soldiers.  It sickened me to think what else could have been done with the money spent on such a gauche display.  Is it any wonder other countries hold us in contempt?

Enjoy and thanks!

- Giovanni
Written March 3rd, 2004

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Comments

1 - 8 of 8

  • AutoPilate
    March 3, 2004
    Edit | Reply
    Let's see if I can explain what I meant by the paint job: it's the paint job on the hood of the SUV I mentioned in the author's comments. Hey, that was easy!

    Thanks!

    - Giovanni


  • candy177
    March 3, 2004
    Edit | Reply
    I don't know what to say about this....also not my style - I don't particularly agree with what's happening overseas, although something had to be done in some respect. My former boss' son is a Marine and he was stationed over there for a while. Every day was spent wondering when he was coming home, if he was ok. I know quite a few people who have loved ones over there...and I don't like it. Quite nervewracking, but there's not much I can do about it - only pray for their safety and speedy homecoming. I also don't see where the paint job comes into play here...just my opinion though. As for the emails - I happen to like the patriotic ones...while I might not forward them on, I still take the time to read them and appreciate (as much as I may not like what's going on) that there are people out there willing to fight for our country...and I knew people that died in the WTC attack so...time to stop rambling though.


  • GaryCGibson
    March 3, 2004
    Edit | Reply
    Political poems replete with unclear religious allusions do present some challenges to the interpreter sometimes. I'm not sure where the paint job part of the poem enters...I believe many of the Shiites of Iraq could definately use good interior and exterior paint jobs. Perhaps the Shah of Iran's problems with the Shia of Iran were increased by over spending on American fighter aircraft when good quality paint jobs for the masses were in order. What was Halliburton's federal receipts or investments in the Shah's Iran?

    The administration of Saddam perhaps would paint just palaces while razing selected Shiite homes. I don't know how much the Sunni factions have prioritized good paint jobs. Certainly the Kurdish minority should be encouraged to use quality 20 year exteriorself-priming paint throughout their region of the country.Yet obviously the State Department isn't concerned enough about quality paint jobs pervasively developed in Iraq to draw such a conclusion.

    The United States intervened to stop a creeping democide in that nation that some around the world would have held America to be a partner of with Saddam Hussein, however unjustly that would have been. Certainly the global corporate media is no present benefactor of U.S.national self interest. It over simplifies politics and national economics while simultaneously advancing a global corporate agenda that opposes American individualism economically and socially.



    The nation should have leaders that actually do seek to advance individual prosperity in the U.S.A. while avoiding isolation...it can be done yet it requires an essentially new political paradigm avbout what to spend tax dollars on etc.

    Edited on Mar 03, 12:25 because ''.


  • Abby Eyeball
    March 3, 2004
    Edit | Reply

    Okay

    Ah, this poem was kind of boring and dull. But, that doesn't mean it isn't good. It's just not my type of style I like to read in poetry. I hope all others like it, though, I can't say that I do.


  • March 3, 2004
    Edit | Reply
    I'm a patriotic person...that's why I disagree with the actions taken by our 'leadership'...I agree with the sentiment of this poem. Personally, I think we should pull a DeGaulle and close our country for a while to take care of our own people and economy...but, hey, I'm part French....far be it for me to have a good idea, lol. And, um...punctuation...punctuation is a good thing. Tenets of good grammar....that, uh, that's something we should continue.


  • Joe Spencer
    March 3, 2004
    Edit | Reply
    i don't like punctuation unless it is used so as to create an atmosphere or a specific feeling.

  • AutoPilate
    March 3, 2004
    Edit | Reply
    3,000? Was it that many? I don't know, it's been so long.... I fail to see what the comment has to do on poetry, but I thank you for it all the same.

    - Giovanni

  • Joe Spencer
    March 3, 2004
    Edit | Reply
    And He wanted people in the United States to be aware of the opinion that other countries hold us in only after about 3000 of us had been killed in a terrorist attack on NYC. Oh, wait--I'm sorry. We still don't care what other countries think of us. We're not ready yet, I guess.

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