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?