i am caught up in despair
unable to navigate so precarious a path
as that lain before us by the masters of destruction
i am wrapped up in fear
disabled not by the nebulous anxiety engendered
by the demonized-to-the-point-of-caricature Osama
but rather by the all too real idiot-with-his-finger-on-the-button Bush
i am entangled with the waking nightmare
that has become business as usual
in this nation standing on the precipice
populate with so many who simply don't want to know,
would rather stand in the middle of the tornado
fingers in their ears as they chant "lalalalalalalalalalalalal"
as if we wouldn't all love to believe that
a child's petulant ritual could successfully avoid bloodshed
i am inextricably chained to the horror
above which we now dangle
understanding that we, ourselves, are now the other shoe
whose calamitous fall is broadly awaited
i am enmeshed with the knowledge
that what has been done on countless reservations across this "great" nation
that what has been done in countless banana republics
that what is being done to our most basic human rights
is about to be perpetrated, perpetuated, punctuated and prosecuted
on a country whose starving and sickly population,
half of whom are under fifteen,
will be crushed beneath the machinery of death
machinery designed and built with our tax dollars
and this knowledge is crushing my head and my heart
and the violence seems infectious
because the blood in my skull is knocking holes in my courage
while the mud in my gut is swamping my convictions
and so i trudge
enmeshed, entangled, and chained
through the day
trying to remember how to smile
when all i want to do is cry
trying to remember how to breathe
when all i want to do is bleed
trying to remember how to talk
when all i want to do is scream
2003
(c) David McIntire
some related links:
http://www.codepink4peace.org/
http://www.notinourname.net/index.html