Two political poems

Demos -- the people

The cloud-scraping
towers of our civilisation
rest triumphantly
if uncertainly
on forgotten foundations:
demokratis -- the people speak
not only to pass on
theoretical inherent 'powers'
to vote-grabbing politicians
BUT
to take part in all public issues
AND
to take part in all public trials
so that citizen referenda
supercede not only
Congress, but also the Judiciary,
and direct the Executive.

Well, now,
that can't be allowed.
Trust the people as a whole
non-professionals, to reach
the power decisions we need?
Hahahaha -- government
by -- hahaha -- opinion poll?
(let me wipe away my tears of laughter)
Well, yes, actually,
that's what
demokratis
means.
So that (for example)
all registered voters
can decide on the war in Iraq
not to mention
the fate of Michael Jackson.

Can be done. Is done, to some extent,
in smaller nations, such as
Switzerland and Norway,
Ireland, Denmark and Holland:
the government is led by the people
and not the other way round.

Think about that, Shrub,
and Shotgun Cheney,
as you "liberate" the Middle East
(no hotbed of democracy)
and then, piously, deplore
the dreadful outcome
of their first free and open elections.
They didn't vote for the "right" guys.
Oh, get real.

Chickenhawk

Why is it, tell me,
that the most bloodthirsty people,
the most spine-chilling
architects of murder,
of "rendering" and "transition"
and good old-fashioned torture
remain safely Stateside,
surrounded by a bevy of bodyguards,
dark-suited, shaven-headed,
designer sunglassed,wired
to mikes (Charley Alpha Zulu)
in suburban shopping malls.

You have to laugh.
There is no other possible
(considered) reaction.

Marat got murdered in his bath,
so maybe Bush should get whacked
in his shower, after a workout
at the White House gym; or, better yet,
while (televised) clearing brush
on that joke he calls a ranch.
Another Texas chainsaw massacre.
Never happen.
Getting rid of these ikons
don't mean nothing; replacements
pop up, with clockwork regularity,
and the batons of badness pass on.
They just don't get it.
They don't know any better.

Colonel Tibbets remarked, he said
we trained very hard for this mission
and we knew what we had to do;
when we pulled away from that target
we were lifted up by a shock wave,
and I knew in that moment
that the mission was successful ...
When I looked down, what I saw
was an area of roiling tar
where before there was a city.
Do I have any feelings of guilt?
Well, I knew there were human beings down there
and I felt sorry for them,
but we were sent out to do a job
and we did it. That's the deal.
Anyway, if it hadn't been me
somebody else would have done it.

Somebody else would have done it.