Every other billboard
literally every other billboard
along a one mile stretch of I-95
just south of Richmond, Virginia
is for the Army National Guard
The others are for God,
Jesus,
and the Navy Federal Credit Union.
This is God’s country
and if God loves anything
its giving poor kids
a false sense of hope
in a better future
before sending them
to kill other poor kids
who have no hope
of any future.
Looking down
at the street below
from this 14th floor
hotel window
I see the sidewalk
where my family sleeps
if God is real
I hope it weeps
for what society
has become
we don’t see our sister
just another bum.
Her heart was broken
soul almost dead
she needs more
than just some bread…
She needs a friend
she needs a brother
she needs family
when she asked me
for some change
I saw humanity.
So I changed my destination
from the local jazz club
to the ABC store
to buy her some grub
and as she ate a turkey sandwich
a tear came to her eye
she stared at me a minute
and then asked me why?
“I see my wife, sister, and mother
when I look at you
and all these people passing by
would stop
if they only knew
how much you’re hurting
how much you need a friend
take one step at a time
you’re heart will start to mend
bend but do not break
and take a look around
you were forsaken and alone
but sister, you’ve been found”
And I’m drowning in the silence
in between her words
spread your wings and fly, sister
just like the birds.
You’re a goddess
you’re Ohana
I just wish you knew
imagine heaven and you’ll have it
soon, your pain will be through.
You are not a bad person
but life dealt you a bad hand
in solidarity with you, sister
right here I’ll stand.
Standing on this rock
all alone
looking glass shattered
can’t find home
can’t escape sticks
and stones thrown
by a falling Rome
names don’t hurt
when Redskins flirt
with victory
the Missouri doesn’t flow
to the sea
it flows through you
and me
don’t close your heart
or bury your eyes
need you to see
through lies
they dig treasure
buried
like Fort Knox
it should remain locked
and rock
paper
scissors
they’ll cut off
our feet
so we can’t stand
but they want us
to salute
while they shoot
our mother
in the back
rape her dying body
and blame it on Iraq
and blame it all on black
rigging the roulette wheel
impovershed kids deal
but Uncle Sam still cooks
the crack
and he still looks
like dad
so we think
he can’t possibly be
this bad
but have you seen
what he’s done
to Baghdad?
and Oklahoma shakes
but the cowboys are glad
to have those jobs,
right?
and we drive our cars
and we leave on the light
all night
because we’re afraid
of boogeymen
and we ain’t got healthcare
or a nickel to lend
and we stay up nights
fighting with spouses
in our shitty clapboard
bank-owned houses
while the cat
chases mice
and our kids
all have lice
and wouldn’t it be nice
if we weren’t playing dice
with the planet
polluting the water
that we need for life
we’re cutting
our mother’s heart out
with a knife
made in China
and bought at a Walmart
in North Carolina
and will Kaepernick kneel
at the Panthers game
and will the results
all be the same
if he speaks about war
and about mother earth
will we say ‘just play ball’
will we cite his net worth?
as if that should negate
the things that he says,
will he take a stand
for those stuck on the rez
and if he does
will the team let him go
and will you speak up
before the oil flows
as the crows cry out
for what they have seen
or will you check your stocks
and count your green
and post a meme
about right
and wrong
or will you numb
your conscience
and sing along?
Fall starts today
but winter is coming
if you take two of these
it should help with
the numbing…
My hands are red
from blood thats shed
my tongue was bitten
another is dead
Betrayed with silence
for too many years
time now to break
from all the fear
Slavery ended
so too Jim Crow
but we quietly watched
the prisons grow…
selective enforcement
of man made laws
now we watch cops kill
without just cause
Another one tonight
and another tomorrow
as I turn out the light
my heart fills with sorrow
because of this empire built
on the backs of slaves
that is putting their children
in early graves…
We pay our taxes
and we wave our flags
we buy the bullets
and the body bags
as we all just sit back
and watch TV
pledging our allegience
while our neighbors can’t breathe…
We pretend that its liberty
and justice for all
but when the cops are killing,
who do you call?
Where do you go
and what do you do
and who will break the silence
if it happens to you?
Martin Luther King’s dream
still hasn’t come true
there’s a long way to go
for the red, white, and blue
war on terror
war on drugs
war on poverty
we need a war
on hugs
because war
creates more
terror
and drugs
and millions
of poor
and we need more love
and we need less war
and we’ve seen it all before
back when we were
the tired,
the hungry,
the poor,
finding outstretched
arms
and open
doors
as we washed up
from foriegn shores
but now the doors
have locks
and war
has become a stock
and the temperature rises
and there are fewer surprises
just poverty
or prison
or mission accomplished
and fifteen years later
the war on terror
has been
its biggest
creator
this blowback
bringing attacks
leading to attacks
and computer hacks
have shown
that uncle sam has known
all along
that violence
is the wrong answer
like a doctor
treating cancer
caused by cancer
with more cancer
and you dont
have to be
a dancer
to know
that they tip-toe
all around the truth
and tap dance
to steal the show
and we’re strung out
and starving
but our money goes
to more
war
and your sisters on
her third tour
in Afghanistan
where the poppies grow
and you wont pass go
you’ll go
directly to jail
when you piss hot
and fail the test…
and its time we put
these wars to rest
give the poor
the best chance
to survive
stop fueling terror
so it cant thrive
and stop viewing addicts
any different than drunks
at the local dive…
and remember,
drunks at the local dive
are no better
or worse than you
and me
and not everyone can find
nine to five
but around the world
we all deserve
to be free
so, it’s Memorial Day
sales
again
and I remember
when Cub Scout packs
would take up the back
of the parade
and families would struggle
to find shade
along Main Street
in late May
with temperatures rising
we shuffled our feet
to the beat
of drums
back when
Vietnam Vets
were still
considered bums
by the Veterans
of the second great war
and, oh say
I can see more
Cub Scouts
getting ready to be
all that they can
be
and I can clearly
see
children being recruited
young minds being polluted
memorize these lines
pledge your allegiance
and fall in line
and left
right
left
and it’s time
to fight
now set your sights
on brown skin
and although it’s killing
its not a sin
and I command you
ten more push-ups
and hurry the hell up
and wait
and this is your fate
a decade down
the line
salt
and lime
drink these memories
far
far away
far away
far away
its Memorial Day
and if you fail
to come home a hero
in a flag draped casket
there will be mattress sales
and a shopping basket
at the grocery store
you can fill with
more
more
more
beer
and wine
and liquor
to wash away
the war
to wash away
the pain
to wash away
the years
shift through
the gears
back to first grade
back when you first made
up your mind
that we were
the good guys
you could see it
in the weary eyes
of the soldiers
getting off the plane
at Westover
after Amy
and Sarah
invited you to join them
and their parents
in their minivan
for a drive to Chicopee
to see
the returning men
and women
standing tall
and looking good…
and I understood
what I had to do
as I stood there
in my Cub Scout hat
and K-Mart shoes
and waved
a miniature American flag
looking back now,
I take a drag
and remember
a decade later
when we were given
miniature American flag
stickers to stick
on the front
of our football helmets
during the first week
of our senior year
and we did so proudly
but full of fear
in the days following
9/11/2001
and fifteen years later
we still haven’t won
whatever we were
supposed to win
and if I were still
Catholic
I would call it a
sin
what we did
in the years
that followed
following all that
nightly news
fear
we swallowed
like bitter pills
from the VA
and now
once again
it’s Memorial Day
but it’s not a day
to remember…
its become a day
to celebrate
capitalism
and ignore the embers
still smoldering
from the people
and cultures
we’re burning
to the ground
lost
never to be
found
and, while a few
of us
are yearning
for an end
to this
endless madness
while struggling through
this endless sadness
too many
keep turning
blind eyes
every day
as the hawk flies
and Lady Liberty
cries
not knowing
what to say
So, after you drive
your brand new car
home from the mattress store
try to remember
we’re still at war…
and as you wash down
your burgers
with too many beers
dont be afraid
to shed a few tears
for the nearly two dozen veterans
who will kill themselves today
as they do daily
and if I become a number
like them
dont blame me
it was my Uncle Sam
who failed me
as he failed
every last one
of his nieces
and nephews
abusing his power
abusing us all
please teach your children
the truth
so they refuse to fall
in line
and make the same mistake
that so many of us did
when we were just
good-hearted,
well-intentioned,
God-fearing,
patriotic,
naive,
brainwashed
American kids
Kids play
cowboys and Indians
grow into men and women play
Muslims and Christians
hooked on Red Man
chewing tobacco
and American Spirit
cigarettes
and t-shirt tans
fade to skin cancer
for white farmers
fresh out of the army
no sun
screen
calls from Bollywood
Indians
peace pipe smoking
dancing on fire
water
drown
old blues musicians
run aground fleeing
Big Easy
sleezy politicians
can’t feel the music
never had the
blues
haven’t got a
clue
about
right and wrong
write
and
long after we’re gone
they’ll sing the same old
songs
from Mississippi
to Chicago
all the way down to New Orleans
still they sing
sea to shining
see massive inequality
singing the blues
in Ferguson, Missouri
in Oakland,
in Baltimore,
and in NYC
and in America today
Uncle Sam’s hands
still drip
red
blood
and you can only breathe
if you’re
white
and countless
black
people
still have the
blues
still treated like property
still shot like
dogs in the street
shots ring out and
cops choke-holding
court
murdering justice
in the summer heat
and cold of winter
black faces turn
blue
can’t breathe
suffocated like Iraqis
got the
blues
turn off the news
channels don’t matter
white
hands still
red
blood
from indigenous holocaust
red
blood
from backs of slaves
in shallow graves
stripped of humanity
no different
than the eighteen-fifties
brainwash kids
to pledge blind faith
and allegiance
we kill without reason
kill for America
the beauty-less
beast
of a nation
from administration
to administration
Kennedy,
Clinton,
Bush
& Obama
no different than
George Washington
all cloaked in Caesars’ clothes
open
concentration camps
for American citizens
of Japanese descent
do the Ku Klux
Can-Can
dance for Uncle Sam
we’re his nephews
and nieces
selling our souls now
just to pay rent
on stolen land
no,
we won’t stand
for your anthem
we got the
red,
white
& blues
and with nothing left
we got nothing to lose
all-in
pockets full of
change
is more than
a campaign slogan
believe in
ourselves
we are millions
strong
and our songs
are no longer
just the
blues
they are battle hymns
we beat war drums
still
but we come in peace
so don’t bother calling
the police
there’s nothing they can do
we no longer fear you
and we’re through
pledging our allegiance
to a blood drenched rag
you can kill most of us
but you’ll run out
of body bags
before we give up
we’ll keep turning
other cheeks
like Dr. King
and that bastard carpenter
from Nazareth
we’ll only raise our fists
in solidarity
and fight with our minds
and spirits
until the end
of time,
fight with
art and music,
war drums
so loud they’ll hear it
on Capitol Hill,
they can spill our blood
but generation
after generation
we’ll take to the streets
sing justice
to the beat of
our own drums
but for now
we sing the
red,
white,
& blues…
Muslims,
Jews,
and Christians
all wishing now
that Abraham was an atheist
and Columbus had been aborted,
things haven’t been
sorted out
for so long
it’s all
long been
so wrong
from Plymouth
to Wounded Knee
to Korea
to Vietnam
to Hawaii
and Bikini Atoll,
it has all taken its toll
but still they call
roll
and kids run
out of the projects
and off farms
and we never meant anybody
harm,
we had good intentions
but that’s not enough
as Uncle Sam starts
Vietnam
after Vietnam
after Vietnam…
and if you dare
sound the alarm
they’ll silence you
one way
or another,
lock you up,
or pickle you with pills
and distill you
with whiskey and Budweiser,
drive you to
the edge
then play taps
and hand your mom a flag
to dry her tears,
don’t talk about
what you
see
no evil
hear no
cries for help
for the helpless
dress right
dress you down
now you’re sounding
blue
looking
white
like you seen a ghost,
lets raise a toast
to the father,
son,
and daughter
melting drunk
onto VFW barstools
like fish
in toxic water,
regretting they survived,
ready to die
but still they go on
singing the blues
different versions
of an age old tune
drunk and out of key
more and more depressed
each day
seeing
the younger
and younger
kids
melting drunk
onto the barstools
singing the
red,
white,
& blues…
I got the
red,
white,
& blues…
Turn off the news.
I got the
red,
white,
& blues.
My hands are red,
my flag is white,
I got the blues.
The bank took my house,
my dog ran away,
but even if I were gay
I could kill Muslims now too…
Three-cheers for equality
from sea to shining sea
we’ve got
the illusion that we’re free
an illusion of equality,
but no justice
the world over,
and no peace,
what would Dr. King think?
I heard what he said
at Riverside
one year to the day he died…
No, it ain’t all
peaches and cream,
we’re in a losing battle
against a machine…
so, I got the blues.
I got the
American empire
crushed my hopes
and dreams,
killed my spirit
and stole my soul,
so now I got to go,
Red,
White,
& Blues.
