cage free in a democracy

CAGE FREE IN A DEMOCRACY

in the news:
legal injection protocols
to be reviewed by a judge
to determine

always to determine

such a thing, determining
by a judge
on the expert advice of
authorities on pain

doctors, one supposes, people
pledged to do no harm, to
alleviate pain and suffering

the pledge of alleviation
to some higher law
goddessbuddahmuhammad

as opposed to allegiance
to the immoral laws of
bellicose nations,
racist states

we pledge alleviation
hands over our hearts
to newagepagans

alan ginsberg our queer poet, che guevara
our conscious doctor, ghandi
our non-violent lawyer, mandela
and lumumba our male
warriors, barbara lee
our hope

gurus who get the word out, do their
prison time
cindy sheehan
tookie williams
leonard pellitier
angela davis

we would like to pledge
alleviation of pain
and suffering to future children

pledge to not send our soldiers
to shoot you in your mother’s kitchen

murder you in your
stoller on the street where you live

the gasoline empire
would prefer to condemn
masses of the earth’s kids to
enemy status

here's the amerikan way:

"you can’t tell who
your enemy is over
there any fucking
little kid could throw down
on you with a k. or an e.d. so
man you shoot first or die
like a trained g.i.
slam the little bastard
rag head
camel jockey
black veiled bitch and her
baby in a high chair

one less future terrorist
by god ..."

that’s the way we like it
uh-huh
uh-huh

get down tonight
get down tonight

born in the usa
uh-huh
uh-huh ...

faster than a speeding
freak on Saturday night
truth
justice
and the amerikan way...

such a thing
to be determined
by a commander-in-chief
of the gasoline republic

zoom-zoom
get that little
kid from sixth sense
to whisper on tv

else we ship him
to baghdad
shoot him dead in his
field kitchen
ha-ha

zoom-zoom

and serve up all the
troops and mercenaries
a good old fashion
amerikan breakfast

feathered squawking
crowded into wire
cages to lay eggs pumped full of
antibiotics loaded into
super market trucks
for rapid delivery
to your good old fashion
corporate store

any body’d treat a chicken
like that
might stick a needle in a
convict’s arm
for a humane death
flopping around on a gurney
with doctors there
digesting dinner, not sure
that the process is
entirely painless

may be a judge’s job
to determine these things

but to end these things:
murder of muslim
families at home, who’s
job is that? to determine
a breakfast egg
remain cage free?
to dismantle
a ruthless
death by prison
system?

whose job?

ghandi and che both
in the grave ... i vote for
you and me and barbara lee

this is after all
a democracy

isn't this, this, this ...

what is this?

Further thoughts on the Modest Proposal of Jonathan Swift:

MODEST PROPOSING
by Don Brennan

like erotic posing
modest proposing
to be effective must
also be subtle
a surprise

as a wayward compliment
with the point of a
driven nail

humor intended to crucify
must be humor nonetheless

yet leave the victim
twisting in the tree

you will see tears rush
to fill a mouth
still grinning
when the nail
hammered by the word
suddenly
sinks home

and the enemy’s groans
will empty the bowel
as easily as blood
gushing
from a mortal wound

so that the stink of a
hot fresh corpse
assails the nose

as delightful as a
scream for mercy
trilling
in a torturer’s ear

for the purpose of
modest proposing
after all
is death
accomplished

nothing less
than agonizing death
for ordinary
injustice
become
every day
routine
like suburban
scenery
trimmed lawns
pastel paint
no insects

injustice has
become
normal
as sinew to
muscle
as marrow to
bone
as phloem to
the tree

until we cannot
escape
our slavery to it

so trained are we
to think inequity
acceptable
we no longer
question
submission

to bow beneath
the master’s
whippings

hanging by our
wrists from his
shackles
assured
we are free

his blows
kicks
beatings
(sending our young
to war)
he tells us
are patriotic
sacrifice
because
injustice
is
expected
demanded
required of us
as good citizens

madness is sanity
cruelty is virtue
politics is crime
conscience is evil
obedience is good
compassion is laughable
so
in the service of peace
and freedom, if you
happen to be interested
in that, we modestly
propose rising up against
ordinary injustice wherever
you find it

simply imagine and
deliver your own
surprising
(don’t forget subtle)
death blow
and
leave injustice' corpse
twisting
in the tree.

A few apcalyptic thoughts on Independence Day:

NO CHICKEN

bird flu and aids
how's a poor boy going to eat
with no chicken
make love
when his baby is dying?

too much rich
too much poor
nobody knows how to
live
anymore

too much rich
destroying our world

too much poor
running from destruction

maybe you didn't notice
crossing rivers
filling up backroads
city streets
running borders
looking for a way to live

the rich
heating up oceans
steaming up the atmosphere
storming the southern hemisphere

genocide by hurricane
drought
tsunami

burning and drowning
starving

and have you noticed all the
war?

people not knowing
how to live
anymore

rich people in the bomb
business
making
selling
dropping

poor people dying and hiding
biting bullets
shooting back when
we can

too much crime to trust
anymore

too much war in the street
to love thy neighbor
anymore

blank cheques for killing
nothing spent to heal or teach

too much israel
too much washington dc

too much christian
armageddon dreaming

too much of the new
thing name of
asymetrical
warfare

here it is:
mass murder by the rich
suicide bombing by the poor
torture at guantanamo
hunger strike
hang yourself

says rummy
bushy
rover
chaney
condi:
geneva conventions
do not apply
to asymetrical warfare

super court says maybe
they do

poor folks repeat after
bin laden:
somos todos
commandante
marcos

translation:
we are all al-queda
who
can't see a future
anymore
for our girls and boys

too much religion
preaching hate

too much USA
(happy birthday)
spreading fear

white collar stealing
gone insane

jacking
dealing in the street
same old game

here we come around
the corner with our loot

ice caps melting
seas uprising
disease in the streams
in the air we breathing

po' middle class
trying to climb up
not be like us
down here

trying not to
fall
down here

where we're running
from too much bullets
too much rich

ice caps melting
seas uprising
can't see a future
girls and boys dying
and no damn chicken.