THE 4TH OF JULY IN A TIME OF WAR

There is no image
there is no advance team
there is no single thing
that says "good, noble people"

We were the hope of the world
but now are the hope
of mastercard and visa
(isn't that wonderful: mastercard/visa
the master's card, master and card
the boss and the pass
into a hole
that digs itself, over and over
and charges you for the shovel
veeeezah...ach, I luv you, veeeeezah...

We were the hope of the galaxy:
so blue and green and sexy
spinning free, snorting oxygen
a noisy place with hands
stretching impossibly far

We were the hope of the hopeless
for we changed everything
and offered lady liberty as proof
that we weren't kidding
even while we hung niggers
and spit at Jews and
shook our heads and said:
"no, no no no no"

We were the hope of those
who could not reach the hem of Jesus's robe
who could not stop being a woman
a black man
a hungry child
a fool
me

We were a tree some distance removed, uncarved

We were everything that you thought
when you went searching for America
in the bathroom or the den
we are this close to killing our own hearts

America went to the ocean
and built sand castles
and shook its fist at the ocean

It's our beach house now
here comes a wave
larger than the last
why won't it behave?

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Comments

Oscar said…
Really fucking fantastic. Thanks.
Annie said…
http://www.njagyouth.org/Liberty_.htm
mjs said…
Thanks, annie. That was fun.

Oscar: I dig that you dig what I dug.


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