Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
I did not become that leader of men
that mighty lion roaring in his den
Not pumped up enough my ego
or perhaps lacking gumption?
Feeling too stiff in tuxedo
or bothered by compunction?
Feeling guilty of indulging
while others ail & tumble?
Loath to proclaim with chest bulging
while trying to fake humble?
Too deficient a Philistine
to travel by limousine?
Too concerned with the unforeseen
bored with intrigues Byzantine?
Or perhaps, putz
just lacking guts?
Just dismiss those with an accent
every one a malcontent!
Let’s pathologize their dissent
never justly they lament
As accountable to no one
no need to be acquitted
Does not matter what we have done
accomplished or omitted
Americans don’t apologize
nor are we ever to be blamed
We always prevail, don’t compromise
Patriots are never ashamed!
Let’s always take this stand
against all critique:
Dismiss it out of hand
or bespeaks we’re weak
+)
-apologize = “I will never apologize for the United States. I don’t care what the facts are. I’m not an apologize-for-America kind of guy” – President George H W Bush
-we = here: patriotic, jingoistic Americans
Can’t be kind or sentimental
dressed up in our power suit
we must display ‘metal mettle’
empowered to act the brute
Focus on what’s at stake:
To make profits shine
grabbing all we can take
boosts the bottom line!
Swimming with opportunity
while prodded by peer pressure
who can pretend immunity
from turning rabid thresher?
But beware! The greed on Wall Street
is the greed in our own heart
So as we darkly scheme & cheat
ain’t no excuse blame we’re smart
Face when poorly we pay heed
(restraint of course, we dread)
that a heart consumed by greed
won’t stand us in good stead!
When death by beheading
just the targets die
No bystander shredding
when children’s limbs fly
Nor any hospital wrecking
cultural desiccation
drone obliterated wedding
whole country devastation
Mass killings industrialized
by U.S. Exceptionalism
propagandized as ‘civilized’
though slaughter by Imperialism
Casualties mere ‘collateral’
when by Western Technology
While ‘war crime’ by Those Fanatical
of differing ethnology
Still each death an execution
under whatever delusion
In one by one retribution
or in conveyor profusion
No one may be a belittler
of the Evils brought by Hitler!
Still what is now holding sway
in ignorance fabled
to History’s sheer dismay
others are now labeled:
Like Hitler! Not like but worse
claim elites Americanized!
Unhinged, untenable curse
lie kept alive propagandized
In their owned world bright & novel
gallop swift equestrians
while in whirling dust we grovel
us plodding pedestrians!
While letting ourselves be kicked at
allowing us to be fooled
now under corporate diktat
we are all, profit fueled, ruled
Allow me state it to you straight:
Change now irreversibly late!
+)
-equestrians = here: the power elite, i.e. oligarchs, big corporations, wall street, military-industrial-surveillance, main stream media & their handmaiden politicians
(Written in 2014 after the US sponsored Maidan ‘regime change’ coup):
Now in Eastern Ukraine:
In Donetsk & Luhansk oblast
indiscriminate shellings
Western media not aghast
though hit hospitals, dwellings:
Local life & culture defaced
while thousands killed, millions displaced
Soon again in the Gaza Strip:
Time again. It is a
‘mowing of the lawn’
in defenseless Gaza
by IOF ‘brawn’
Like Freedom & Democracy inflicted on Iraq:
When phosphorus, uranium depleted
obliterated ancient Fallujah
by U.S. Empire in war crimes conceited:
Once again Freedom spreads, Hallelujah!
Industrial slaughters by design
while the world looks the other way
Failing help from Providence Divine
hapless civilians the main prey
+)
-Fallujah = dates from Babylonian times. White phosphorus bombs & depleted uranium shells were used by U.S., British & Iraqi forces under the command of General James Mattis in Nov 2004
-IOF = ‘IDF’ (Israel Defense Forces) a misnomer; rather the ‘IOF’ (Israel Occupying Forces)
-‘moving the lawn’ = Israeli policy phrase for the ‘degrading’ of Gaza every few years
Overseas millions killed, maimed
Their plight we belittle
concern rarely even feigned
to change noncommittal
Worn narrative straining
nation’s honor stained
In an empire waning
integrity sprained
The President’s smooth hollow words
just shows up paralysis
whether on climate, jobs or Kurds
Bring on urinalysis:
Enough specious words
by Ivy League nerds!
+)
-president = written originally under Obama
-urinalysis = here: to identify those ‘high’ on Imperial hubris
Money shuffling arcane
all for power & gain:
Even when usurious the result
of their speculations financial
The Rich will find little time to exult
as their entitlement substantial
While you’re not having enough to eat
they are densely hard of hearing
they are just so happily effete
How quaintly sweet & endearing!
Still hoping get things changed?
Aren’t you callow, deranged:
As no One Percenter Nonsuch
does ever stoop to exploit
merely endowed with golden touch
while responsibly adroit!
Petitioning the Power Elite?
How naive & hopelessly odd
as they shall never concede a tweet
They own media, gold & God
Groveling at feet of the greedy
likewise shall never ever work
The Rich are the ones feeling needy
such charming, disarming a quirk!
In plush executive suites
tinny hearts with profits flutter
while you’re walking those mean streets
They got Congress, you got gutter
Of course if you cannot take the heat
get up & off the side walk grate
and sleep instead on the bus backseat
Or get a climate controlled crate
For most of us are at best a statistic
in this world Casino Capitalistic
+)
God = Goldman Sach’s CEO reminds us they’re “doing God’s work”:
http://www.businessinsider.com/lloyd-blankfein-says-he-is-doing-gods-work-2009-11
The Empire of Denial
continues to beguile
By propaganda’s vial
clicking heals, shouting ‘heil’
U.S. lost in winless warring
yet still keeps persevering
Think by ‘doubling down’ they’re scoring
pretending to hear cheering!
The Elite keeps us Populace stirred
Reality & Fantasy blurred