The world they leave us (poetry)

I can not write because somewhere in the Israeli Colony

of Palestine they are building roads

for Israelis only

and fences twenty feet high

and I believe in Israel

I can not write because somewhere in the American Colony

of Iraq they are building bridges

of hate

and opportunities for oil companies

with a private army

and I believe in America

I can not write because somewhere in Israel

Christians are made to wait like cattle in a feed lot

to return to their own homes

and I believe in Israel 

I can not write because somewhere in America

nameless souls are held without habeas corpus

and tortured in the name of peace

And I believe in America

I can not write because I remember the White Papers

and the Declaration of Independence

as the seeds of freedom

I can not write because I remember the history of hate

and see it blooming again

a noxious weed in a field of poppies

When will the signs go up on the water fountains

if there is to be water in Palestine

and I believed in Israel 

When will the curfew come to my neighborhood

or the secret police

and I believed in America

When will the religious right change its name to Al Qaeda

so we will recognize them for what they truly are

and I believed in America

When will Zealots demand not settlements

but death for non-settlers

so we can call them as they have called their persecutors

and I believed in Israel 

I can not write because I grieve

I mourn the world they leave us

my tears a lake of frozen hope

RNC in the Neighbourhood

Helicopters hover

or crisscross the neighborhood by day

disturbing the peace

Sirens shatter almost perfect late summer evenings

as storm troopers rush to arrest

potential problems

A bus load of Americans

get a glimpse of Palestine

as they gather their belongings

and walk to their destination

The Holocaust comes alive

in that small way of beginnings

as gathering places are chained

people detained

searched

catalogued

Journalists are corraled

Handcuffed

as they gather in a garden

hungry for change

A warrant was signed by a judge

certainly not Solomon

appointed

as keeper of the status quo

Are they voices in the wind

swallowed by the mainstream media

or portend of things to come

Which Americans First   

It a strange thing,

a modern day wonder,

in fact,

a bloody miracle

that the new acronym for what we used to call

the ethnically challenged

to put it in political correct short hand,

our rural

blue collar brothers and sisters,

have been convinced they too

are Republicans.

If not convinced,

at least bought

with rebates of around six hundred

of our dollars per vote.

America First.

Corporate America,

when drilling oil is the only subject spoken of,

health care, education,

social welfare

are not hot buttons

when driving the SUV to the lake

or unable to afford the drive

to the unemployment office;

basically the same thing.

Give Big Oil a few more windfalls

on the backs of every other conceivable program

those votes might not cost as much

next time

    Water Water Everywhere   

 I

 like you 

dream for my children

not for simple things

like a home with a real roof

and running water

or a homeland

where I don't pray I am first in line

for the relief trucks

with our ration of rice and water

not even for a place

where the mosquitoes don't bring malaria

from fetid  swampy water

or strangers don't spray bombs and bullets

on their neighbors

until a priest is required to wash their war torn bodies clean

with Holy Water

I

like you

dream in America

not of it

of scholarships to lofty institutions

letters in athletics

the debate team

a home on the ocean

a cabin on a lake full of clear water

a good job

a good spouse

4th of July barbeques

with steaks

fireworks and imported mineral water

you know

the good life

Isn't that what dreams are all about