Not easy to face the young barbarian in me –
Shudder that New Years Eve, 1976,
when I raised drunken fists in order
to strike my father, a Teamster truck driver.
Come 1982, inside a Scranton theater,
Gandhi played on silver screen.
Feeling damaged and civilized, I cringed
while watching the symbol of non-violence
slap his wife into spiritual obedience.
O Moses (sigh), are you serious?
Must I really first remove the plank
within my own ash eyes before extracting
sawdust from a foreign brother’s?1
Not easy to have sworn a U.S. Army
oath (Fort Polk, LA, Autumn, 1970)
to honor humane prisoner treatment
and come 2003, watch T.V. news; the spectacle
of American soldiers tossing Iraqi “insurgents”
into Tigris, and proud Garner and England’s
Abu Ghraib pyramid construction,
allegedly built “under order of higher-ranks,”
naked Iraqis piled to flesh and bone promontory.
The First Wonder of the New World Order?
O Moses (sigh), are you serious?
Must I really first remove the plank
within my own ash eyes before extracting
sawdust from a foreign brother’s?
Never met King Abdullah
but for Bush family appearances on T.V.,
and I know for sure Amnesty International cares for me.
(Sigh)
I felt for the guy beheaded by Saudis in Riyadh,
2009, for “homosexual intercourse” indulgence.
I thought either a crucifixion
or several whip lashes would have sufficed…,
after all, the sinner never stooped to APOSTASY.
“Isis, O Isis,” sang mysterious Dylan,
I watched the awful videos, journalist beheadings,
O ISIS, you must quickly convert to TexaSaud Tea Party!
O Moses (sigh), are you serious?
Must I really first remove the plank
within my own ash eyes before extracting
sawdust from a foreign brother’s?
Ah, snowy white indoctrinated,
I am ready to fight against barbaric ISIS.
9/11 patriotic, mature, I know better now!
I am acquainted with Miss America kinky fetishes,
and so what if Baltimore Raven, Ray Rice,
beat-up a lover in Revel Hotel Casino elevator?
Maybe soon Riyadh shall get an N.F.L. Team,
and Rice can make comeback, kick opponent ass,
knock around an immodest white robed Isis.
No worries, no worries, America,
God’s mercy on thee –
Barbarians are least perceived
in their own home-town boardrooms,
and St. Louis cops are on speed-dial for riff-raff.
(Sigh)
I am mindful of US foreign policy priests,
their hypocritical and endless impatience for
every nation’s barbarism, except our own.
Civilized, I “turn other cheek,” do as told,
I look into ancient barbed wire eyes…,
so why are black-ops Pupils pointed at mine?
- From Gospel according to Matthew; Chapter 7.