Thousands of dead civilians
don’t quite tug at your heartstrings
the way that one single
dead American journalist does
but why is that?
He’s not the first civilian killed by the crown
but usually the black gold helps wash it all down
helps us drown out our thoughts about nine-eleven
and thoughts about,
what’s that country called again?
oh yeah, Yemen,
where we’ve helped Mohammed Bin Salman dismember
far more civilians than we’d care to remember
far more than a single journalist
and it’s far more than just plain old war crimes
but maybe Uncle Sam isn’t complicit this time
so he can pretend to be a little upset
and either have an excuse to overthrow the Saudis
or just completely forget about it
and let Khalid become his brothers keeper.
Either way,
whether we wind up going to war
against the House of Saud
or just selling them more weapons
to butcher civilians in places like Yemen
while we keep turning blind eyes
as they behead their own women and men
as legal punishment,
stock prices will continue to rise
and the military industry will be just thrilled
regardless of who dies
they’ll be wearing their suits and ties
as they fly in their private jets
counting the prize money
from literally every single fight in the world tonight
and two wrongs are quite alright
with weapons manufacturers
and they all sleep soundly at night
feeling pretty good about themselves
no, they’re not weapons makers
so much as they’re job creators
keeping Americans employed
and keeping Americans deployed.
Whether the king and the prince
murdered Khashoggi themselves
or it was Mossad or the CIA,
someone will indeed pay
and it will be you next next tax day
as you lay your thirty pieces of silver on the table
and Uncle Sam does a quick sleight of hand
and your silver coins become bombs
and bullets
and drones
and tapped cellphones
and they become a butchers knife
and it might not be a journalist next time
but your coins are always costing
someone their life
and somebody made the knife
and somebody made the bullets
and somebody made the bombs
and that somebody made
off with your silver
and they do every single time
and not a single bullet flies
without somebody making a dime
without somebody capitalizing
on war crimes
and don’t you dare say that crime doesn’t pay
I mean, come on…
haven’t you seen the stock market today?
