From the news or maybe my blues or stuck under my shoes up to me to choose.

5/29/2007

In Case Of A Missile Attack

“Russia tested new missiles Tuesday that a Kremlin official boasted could penetrate any defense system, and President Vladimir Putin warned that U.S. plans for an anti-missile shield in Europe would turn the region into a "powder keg."

And I had just gotten used
to
not hiding under
the school
desk.

The bomb shelters now
the root cellar.

 
The canned peaches
are decades
past the
exhalation date.

The cold war melted
as walls came down
and since then
it has been so hard
to be us
without a real
honest to goodness
“them”.

Al Qaeda
doesn’t have the cache
doesn’t have borders
doesn’t have a seat at the United Nations.
It’s too
It’s too
vaporous
indefinite
unidentifiable
and hidden.

 
I would prefer
a shoe banged on a lectern
to video-taped threats
without a sense of humor

See
what we need
                to unite
are not sound bites
are not speeches
are not
landings on carrier decks
with toy boy helmets and upraised digits.
are not indefinite theories
or hidden bombs
and pissed off bacteria
               learning to survive
in Cleveland’s water supply
we need rocket’s red glare
massed steel hinting of Ares’
machinations.

Give me a Vladimir Putin
with an aggressive translator
Let’s remember why we need
each other
and what makes us
who
we
are.

 
Give me that ol’ time religion
Give me icbm’s ignitions

In case of a missile attack
Oh how I have missed that phrase

In case of a missile attack
It informed my nights and awakened my days

In case of a missile attack
I have so missed that Armageddon fear

In case of a missile attack
The words so sweet and cleanly clear

 
God…I am so relieved.

5/20/2007

I think I will buy myself a city
I will buy myself a city
I will buy myself a city
and I will govern with such joy

I will govern with such joy
because
I bought myself a city

I bought it with your cooperation
sound bites and witty conversation
And I am independent
I hold no debts or favors
I cannot be swept by power
I have enough of my own
I will not listen to the unions
I will not listen to politicians
I will not listen to the media
you know how self centered they are

 
I will dole out what is expected
I will martial all the forces
I will govern like a father
Who knows what his children need

And I know all the neighborhoods
I can see them on my map
And my GPS guides me through them
and every now
and then
I stop

I am full of concerned expressions
I am full of empathetic indulgence
I owe no one  I owe no one
I cannot be swayed or leaned on
I stand solid and untouched
I have no need to know the alleys
I have no need to know streets
where services are meager
lacking cold and lacking heat

I own expensive everything
I possess items choice and rare
But your votes are wonderful bargains
I had no idea that they were so cheap

A barrage of well placed slogans
An blitzkrieg of sound bites
and now I wear a mantle that seems to show I care

 
I’ve enjoyed this election
I am delighted with my office
(Although it needs to be updated but I can pay for that myself)
And now that I’m elected
I will do as I promised
I will not listen to the unions
I will not listen to politicians’
I will not listen to the media

and

I will not listen to you

Until I need to repurchase
those ineffable decisions
that bought me this city

and next

perhaps

a state