Should I have the strength to force the world to another crisis?
Yes, though I have lied so fast, lied and prayed,
And listened to the voice of God,
I always seek profits - but that's no great matter;
I have seen the vision of my greatness,
I have seen the eternal Footman, Tony Blair, hold my coat,
and flicker,
And, in short, I'm not afraid.

--from T.S. Eliot's "Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock",
with additions by Politex, 07.18.03

Sixteen Little Words

Sixteen little words,
Oh how he'd take back his lying Bush phrase.
To forget those sixteen little words,
That's all he'd live for the rest of his days.

But when Bush feels it in his heart, he lies sincerely.
No other liar can tell it half so clearly.
Sixteen Little Words,
Many little letters,
Which simply mean we've been screwed!

--lyrics by Bert Kalmar ,music by Harry Ruby, with additions by Politex

The American Dream of justice shall heal.
The times, they are still changin’ -
but this time for real.

copyright June 2003
For notes and/or CD recording contact: Peter Lackner@verizon.net

Crows Over Fields

The newspapers said that airplanes would not fall,
nor elevators stop, nor technology fail
when clocks ticked on past the very last hour
on the twentieth century digital dial.
No one really knew what kind of rumor
nations could count on to believe and live for,
we sort of preferred the news that said
God Bless America we'll always be ahead.

Nine-eleven was bad. But this is much worse--
George Bush and his junta--Perle and Wolfowitz,
Ashcroft and Cheney sucking corporate tits,
with Rumsfeld leading the media blitz.
And now it's getting pretty fair to ask
if this is at all like that Third Reich jackass
who played his public like pawns, cheap things to stir up--
keep em beguiled with lies and slant stuff.

There's also this elevation of the grotesque
where what is essentially insanity of carnage
turned into theatre, mask, and mockery--
war under the banner of Fox News TV.
The Axis Of Evil Oh Say Can You See--oh well,
people on pacifiers are learning to kill.
And those who can see the fundamentally obsessed,
shout jackboots and swastika--are labeled Commie red.

Hold onto your seats folks you're in for a ride
slippin and a-sliding along the fascist tide.
And Homeland Defense is just another name
for what we should call military regime.
Hold onto your seats folks they have your number--
you're listed and catalogued well beyond gender,
age, race, church and club--all by the wonder
of an Act good old George did sneak us right under.

What happens when we disturb things enough
to raise Earth from slumber to shake herself
while we're left hanging by squeals and teeth
as she turns over in her indifferent sleep?
For days we'll not know how to set clocks,
nor how to draw maps, nor how to block
the ash and soot bleeding out of the clouds
and winds playing with a mutagenic shroud.

Across feilds and seas and every skyline
crows will fly wildly along the horizon.
Trapped in our rooms we'll have nothing to watch
but stores and banks close--all markets will crash.
The crows will gather on leafless trees
while we hold our breath the night will freeze.
We'll no longer need sleep to see in dreams--
sleep's eyes are iced open in this kind of scene.

Nothing to count on but emergencies.

cati viscusi
June 2003

Sultans Of Spin

You get a shiver in the dark
It's so quiet in the park
But in the meantime

South of the palace you stop and you hold everything
Autocratic Shieks spin demoracy double four time
You don't feel right when you hear those spinners sing

You step inside the walls but you don't see too many faces
Listening in the dark to hear the spin go down
Too much competition, too many other places
There's too many Sheiks can make that spinning sound.

Way on downsouth way on downsouth in deserts
You check Our George, he knows all the grins.
A one note samba's all that he can give you
When he gets up around the mic to sing his spin

And Rummy doesn't mind if he doesn't make the scene
He's got a night time job at Halliburton,
Can spin the Middle East just like anything
Saving it up for a later curtain
With the Sultans, with the Sultans of spin

And a crowd of young princes, they're fooling in the corner
Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles
They don't give a damn about any George playing band
It ain't what they call rock and roll
And the Sultans spin democracy

And then Our George he steps up to the mic
And says at last just as the time bell rings
'Thank you goodnight, it's time to say goodnight'
and he makes it fast with one more thing
'We are the Sultans, we are the Sultans, of Spin.'

Based on Dire Straits' Sultans Of Swing and Jackson Diehl's Sheikdom Democracy --Jerry Politex, 06.03.03

With My Boys In Iraq: There Are These Nights
by SAM HAMOD

And there are these nights, when
We question, when it is
Clear
, actually,
no need for questions,
Not a paradox, just
That we know
This war we came to,
this war in Iraq,
Was planned, not
Decided upon, not based
On any good reason, but the
plan from years earlier, a
Death instinct of a few
Frustrated men, who wanted their
Moment of glory, who sat
In Washington, in their 3 button
Suits, then sent out
3 star generals,
sergeants and privates
who barely knew how to write
and sailors who only knew
what little they were told
and marines who thought they
were going in to
liberate
some ignorant, third world,
illiterate, tortured and un-
intelligent
Iraqis- some
camel jockeys, rag
heads, stupid, not God
fearing Muslims, cousins
to Bin Laden, people
who hated us,
But after they killed
A couple
Thousand
Of these camel jockeys, these
Rag heads, these Mohammadan
Sinners, as their commanders
Called them,
And saw the little girl
her tiny lifeless fingers
Still held that little cotton baby,
The mother, her black
dress ripped, blooded
her body
Covering her
Son, and what must have been the father
Whose head was on the other side
Of his body, his legs
Gone-they
Knew something,
they knew
Something
something was wrong, when
They saw the old guy, the old
Man, kiss his cross and ask
For God to help him, they
Realized, him and the other one
kneeling down, crying and praying,
who kept asking
For Allah to help them, that
They were not
sinners, but who were they
then the doubt
began, began,
Started creeping
when they saw
the walls of
books
the tapestries
like they'd seen
in museums, in
house
after house, and
glasses
dishes forks and knives still on the tables,
photos
spread, some burned
across the floors,
the dolls on the floor,
the cat mewing, frightened,
wild,
feelings began
to creep in,
Into their
Hearts, maybe
These weren't
Simply rag heads, maybe
They weren't
Camel jockeys, shit, they hadn't even seen
a camel maybe
They weren't just
ignorant haters, maybe
These were
Just
Plain
People,
maybe
Just like
Their mothers,
Their baby
Sisters, and
Fathers who'd give up
Their lives for their
Sons and daughters,
Like this old man
Had done,
Suddenly,
They looked
At began looking at Bush in a
New way, some started
to look at their commanders,
men they'd believed in,
the doubt made them look
At their commanders
In a new way
And then some of them, their hearts
Began
To ache, wanted to get
outside, in the
open air, to get
Home, to get out
Of here, not to
Pick up any more
Legs, arms, heads, cluster bomb killings,
"Collateral damage" the sergeant said,
But they knew
The difference, these
Were body, human
Parts, these were
Not simply damaged
Goods, not simply
Collateral
Damage, these were their
Mothers, their
Sisters, their
Fathers in those
Black, plastic, unemotional, Marine
Issue, black
Body bags, realizing, these were
humans, torn up,
Throwing them into
Those holes, throwing
People into
Those holes,

suddenly
the heat and desert dust
the nights of
sleeping
out in the cold desert
on top the Hummer, on
top of their
Abrams,
none of it
made sense,
before they
came, it was
very clear, they
knew how to cleanly
kill, how to win,
how they were going
to go in,
fast. the commanders
kept saying, "Shock and Awe,"
"they'll give up, they'll run,
clean kill, nobody dies, over in 24 hours,
nobody dies,"
Suddenly,
when the sergeant
Said, "Forget about it"
They said,
"Yes, sir" and then
realized, then
looked down, yes sir
they'd say, and then they'd
remember, they'd
never,
never,
forget about it
never

Sam Hamod is a poet who has served in two wars, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, has published 10 books of poems, his last the winner of the Ethnic Heritage Prize for Poetry, taught at The Writers Workshop of The U. of Iowa, Princeton, Michigan, Howard and edited THIRD WORLD NEWS in Washington, DC. He can be reached at: shamod@cox.net

On The Proposed CAPPS Color Coding Of Airline Fliers

When I think back on that CAPPS search I had by some fool
It's a wonder I even fly at all
Though his pawing through my bags uncovered nothing
I don't much like Capp's Kolorcode at all.

Kolorcode CAPPS gives us those nice bright colors
Need the green to fly this summer
Makes you think the world's gone mad today, oh yeah!
Don't want no search en camera
I hate to take a polygraph
Osama, you brought this Kolorcode my way.

If you took all the debts I had when money jungled
Added them up in columns day and night
It wouldn't match the paranoid expectations
Of things to all those suckers on the right

Kolorcode
CAPPS gives us those bright ol' colors
Getting red would be a bummer
Makes you think the world's gone made today, oh yeah!
Don't need no Delta panorama
If I have to take all this crap
Osama, you brought this Kolorcode my way.

Mama please take this Kolorcode
Mama please take this Kolorcode
Mama please take this Kolorcode away.

O.K.!

Kodachrome by Paul Simor, with additions by MJR, 04.21.03

BELLS OF FRENCH

"Want freedom fries with that burger, sir?"

Way across the deep blue ocean
Way above the mountain so high
People sing and loiter freely
Songs of joy reach up to the sky.

In this time of worry and confusion
In this world of trouble and pain
We're so many and the road is so weary,
How many people can tell you my name?

Bells of French ring
Bells of French ring.

Come friends and people from every corner,
People, come from everywhere.
Let the bells of French ring loudly,
Ring for those who know and care.

Bells of French ring
Bells of French ring.

Way across the deep blue ocean
Way above the mountain so high
People sing and loiter freely
Songs of joy reach up to the sky.

Bells of French ring
Bells of French ring for us.

--Traditional, with additions by Jerry Politex, 03.20.03

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy

I read the news today, oh boy,
About the President who's mucking it,
And though the news was rather sad,
Well, I just had to laugh.
I saw his photograph.

He blew his job up on this war,
He didn't notice that the world had changed,
A crowd of people stood and stared,
They've seen his face before.
Nobody was really sure if he knew right from wrong.

I saw a film today, oh boy,
The U.S. army had just won a war,
A crowd of people turned away,
But I just had a look.
Having read some books, I'd like to stop this war.

Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head,
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up I noticed I was late.
Found my coat and grabbed my hat,
Made the bus in seconds flat,
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke,
And somebody spoke and I went into a dream...

I heard the news today, oh boy,
Ten thousand bombs have dropped on old Baghdad,
And though the holes weren't very small,
They learned to count them all.
Now they know how many holes they'll take to make up for the dead.
I'd love to stop this war.

--by Lennon-McCartney, with additions by Jerry Politex, 03.17/03

Being a Beatles fan myself, I teared up reading your version of 'I heard the news today, Oh boy' and 'Collatral damage'...I have the most admiration for your fearless jounalism. There is still much goodness and great minds in this country...to quote Lennon, if we can only 'Come together'...Lakshmi Mahadevan, 03.17.03

Epitaph on a tyrant Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

----W. H. Auden

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Quiet killing done in coats and ties
And spit-shined shoes,
Smoking during mutilation.
Far away from killer's eyes
Babies burn, blown apart
By 'surgical strikes',
Blobs of brains splattered
On their mother's faces.
Mounds of guts lying in the gutter.
Screaming kids,
Their bloody stubs dangling
Tripping over piles of limbs
Crying for their crippled fathers
Puking in the streets.
Dazed old people
Fumbling through
Piles of dead to find their families
Fainting from the stench
Of burning flesh.

Child killing and dismemberment-
A side effect of technological warfare,
Collateral damage.
(A giant video game on CNN)

The smoke clears;
Poison for air
Mud for medicine
Fire for light
Sweat for water
Shit for food.
Gagging for breath,
Praying for death.
Collateral damage-
A side effect
Of technological warfare.

These images were mined from the carefully guarded bank of memories of my experience as a US Naval officer in the Vietnam campaign and from horror stories recently reported from Afghanistan and the previous Gulf War, which share a lot of similarities. The description of 'collateral damage' used here pales in comparison to the real thing, to be sure. Fifty percent of the citizens of Iraq are under the age of 18 years old. This poem attempts to inject some reality into the sterilized military language used to describe the scene of the massacre once the bombing starts and renders many of these children pieces of 'collateral damage.'

Frank Lloyd Kramer
Former US Military Officer
Vietnam War

Baby's On Fire

Baby's on fire
Better throw her in the water
Look at her crying
An Iraqi to the slaughter.

Baby's on fire
And all the journalists are bitching
Waiting for photos
Oh the plot is so bewitching.

Americans don't look
Do your best to change the subject
As the bombs blow blow
Lend credibil'ty to the object.

Photographers snip snap
Take your time she's only burning
Our shock and our awe awe
Is necessary for her learning.

If Bush is our warlord
War is something we'll get used to
Our weapons are hot stuff
And that's what baby's been reduced to.

Dick Cheny and Carlyle
Very clever with their biz deals
Making their fortunes
Selling weapons that appeal.

Ken dances at Enron
And when the clients are evicted
He empties the ashtrays
And pockets all that he's collected.

But baby's on fire!
And all our citizens agree that
Her temperatures rising
But any idiot can see that.

--by Brian Eno with additions by Jerry Politex, 03.15.03

IN A WORLD GONE MAD

In a world gone mad it’s hard to think right
So much violence hate and spite
Murder going on all day and night
Due time we fight the non-violent fight

Mirrors, smokescreens and lies
It’s not the politicians but their actions I despise
You and Saddam should kick it like back in the day
With the cocaine and Courvoisier
But you build more bombs as you get more bold
As your mid-life crisis war unfolds
All you want to do is take control
Now put that axis of evil bullshit on hold
Citizen rule number 2080
Politicians are shady
So people watch your back 'cause I think they smoke crack
I don’t doubt it look at how they act

In a world gone mad it’s hard to think right
So much violence hate and spite
Murder going on all day and night
Due time we fight the non-violent fight

First the ‘War On Terror’ now war on Iraq
We’re reaching a point where we can’t turn back
Let’s lose the guns and let’s lose the bombs
And stop the corporate contributions that their built upon
Well I’ll be sleeping on your speeches ‘til I start to snore
‘Cause I won’t carry guns for an oil war
As-Salamu alaikum, wa alaikum assalam
Peace to the Middle East peace to Islam
Now don’t get us wrong ‘cause we love America
But that’s no reason to get hysterica
They’re layin’ on the syrup thick
We ain’t waffles we ain’t havin’ it

In a world gone mad it’s hard to think right
So much violence hate and spite
Murder going on all day and night
Due time we fight the non-violent fight

Now how many people must get killed?
For oil families pockets to get filled?
How many oil families get killed?
Not a damn one so what’s the deal?

It’s time to lead the way and de-escalate
Lose the weapons of mass destruction and the hate
Say ooh ah what’s the White House doin’?
Oh no! Say, what in tarnation have they got brewing??!!!!???!!
Well I’m not pro Bush and I’m not pro Saddam
We need these fools to remain calm
George Bush you’re looking like Zoolander
Trying to play tough for the camera
What am I on crazy pills? We’ve got to stop it
Get your hand out my grandma’s pocket
We need health care more than going to war
You think it’s democracy they’re fighting for?

In a world gone mad it’s hard to think right
So much violence hate and spite
Murder going on all day and night
Due time we fight the non-violent fight

--by the beastie boys

Everybody Knows

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the wars aren't over
Everybody knows that both sides lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their son just died
Everybody waiting for the phone
Everybody wants to just go home
Not a blood red rose
Everybody knows

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me and you
And everybody knows you don't last forever
When you've lived a lie or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For our ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows justice and freedom
Are just artifacts of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
And there's a meter in your head
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that we're in trouble
Everybody knows what we've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at the Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

by Leonard Cohen with additions by Jerry Politex, 03.08.03

'SCUSE ME, I GOT ALLIES TO BUY

U.N. HAZE ALL IN MY BRAIN
LATELY PUTIN'S NOT THE SAME
ACTIN' FUNNY I DON'T KNOW WHY
'SCUSE ME I GOT ALLIES TO BUY

U.N. HAZE ALL AROUND
CHIRAC AND SCHROEDER WEAR'N FROWNS
I'M NOT HAPPY, 'N YOU KNOW WHY
'SCUSE ME, I GOT ALLIES TO BUY

HELP ME (UH)
HELP ME (OH)
I DON'T (UH) KNOW (OH)
YEAH!

U.N. HAZE ALL IN MY EYES
GOT ME WALKIN' A BRIDGE OF SIGHS
GOT ME BLOWIN', BLOWIN' MY MIND
I'M A 'VANGELIST, IT'S THE END OF TIME

BLAIR KNOWS (UH)
HELP ME COLIN (OH)
YEAH RUMMY (OW)
COME ON NOW TURKEY

TELL ME (UH)
TELL ME (OH)
I DON'T (UH) KNOW (OH)
YEAH!

"Purple Haze" --Jimi Hendrix with additions by Jerry Politex, 03/06.03

First We Take Baghdad, Then We Take Beijing

"After Baghdad, Beijing." --PNAC enthusiast

They sentenced me to 8 full years of Clinton
for trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I am coming to reward them
First we take Baghdad, then we take Beijing

I'm guided by a signal from the White House
I'm guided by the circle I am in
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Baghdad, then we take Beijing

I really hate to live beside you liberals
I loath your bodies and your spirit and your cloths
and you see that line that's moving through the station
I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those

You loved me as a loser, now
you're worried I just might win
you know the way to stop me
but you lack the discipline
how many nights I prayed for
this to let my work begin
First we take Baghdad, then we take Beijing

I don't like this peacenik business, mister
and I don't like the drugs that keep you thin
I don't like what's happened to you, mister
First we take Baghdad , then we take Beijing

And I thank you for those items that you gave me
the vote machines and the Flor'da win
I practised every night, now I am ready
first we take Baghdad, then we take Beijing

Remember me , I used to live for Reagan
remember me , I did your think tanks in
well its Bush's day , and every one is wounded
First we take Baghdad , then we take Beijing

"First we take Manhattan , Then we take Berlin" --Leonard Cohen with additions by Jerry Politex, 03.01.03 (listen)

--Traditional with additions by Jerry Politex, 03.20.03