being there, being here

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Fri, 21 Feb 2003 15:46:32 GMT
by joel scott miller
february 17th 2003
all rights reserved

i was there on saturday
in NYC i mean.
took the train down
just to be clean.

metronorth
the conductors were great
as was the prosciutto
that on the way home i ate.

grand central terminal
one end of the fork
and into the city
how i
love new york.

the city is alive
like a giant bee hive,
and saturday consisted of a
massive militant jive,

went to St pats
to tip our hats
and i see the american flag
over the aisle resides
but no peace flag as yet
in the cathedral presides.

toward times square, people
and lights everywhere,

now on to bryant park,
the library
around the police barricades
to join up with the
party for the planet
eco erotic noise brigade.

onward and upward,
uptown we went,
crossing lexington and
out onto 3rd.
in a massive crowd
now we make it up to 59th,
spill into the street and
avoid horse turds.

the queensboro is in sight
the trams glisten in the light
as we round the corner,
to the drumbeat
i once again head out
into the street.

i pass taxis, and a bus
a tractor trailer and a fire engine
to the occupants
i give a peace sign and a prayer mudra
a fireman nods
his grief still thick
while up ahead i see mounted police
with their guns and sticks.

we stop and are stuck on
2nd avenue and 53rd,
the drumming is constant
as the cops observe.

it's only on sunday that i read
in the times with alarm,
that snipers were up on the rooftops
and i wonder who they were to harm

the march and demonstration
were peaceful and calm
and most amazingly was the varied
ages and colors of palms.
but i didn't see president bush there
and i guess i wonder
if he really cares

the people have spoken
and called for peace,
in countries and cities
across the world
including greece.

Bishop tuto was there and
said no to war
the people if you listen
are saying much more.

the people
are of the human family
and god's family
and they are saying yes to love,
compassion and to peace

but whether this call is heard
i do not know
therefore to president bush
i have some seeds to sow,

i am not afraid of hussein
not afraid of his reign
i am not afraid of your terror
i am concerned about your error

i reject your oligy and
i reject your ism
and i reject your pushing us
into a cataclysm.

i do not fear al qaeda
i do not fear osama
i do not fear anthrax, botelinem toxin,
serin nerve gas, small pox
or my own nervous gas,

i transform my fear into
action and rejection and activism
and this is what i fear and
what drives my decisions,

i fear your secrecy
i fear your manipulation
i fear your diction
and your misguided
ambitions

i reject your bellicosity
and your autocracy
i reject your neo-facism
and most of all your
compassionate conservatism

i don't fear the iraqi menace
i fear that which has slaughtered
750,000 children in ten years under the age of five
the american friends service committee
spills on us that jive.

i reject your intentions
i reject your simplicity
i've read enough
to harbor my own opinions
about your complicity

what about 9/11
that september day of course
just why was it standing down
our american air force
and mr bush, where were you
that september day,
why florida of course
county of dade
isn't that where you
were made.

and how about afghanistan
lots of bombing but no osama
so the american people
you gotta keep conn'in

finally you and your code orange,
i reject your homeland
and your politics of fear
resulting in deaths in chicago,
21 in fact
and not because of
or from any kind of attack
you must be tickling yourself with glee
cause most of those who died
happened to be black.

you will be exposed and
you will deposed, if not by impeachment,
election 2004 is on your global ambitions
gonna slam the door.
you must think with all my ranting
that i must be uptight,
and i guess this poem proves
that Laura Bush was right

but the condition rainbow
has been declared
and people of age,
creed and color the world over
are beginning to care,

the last thing i have
to say to is this,
best thing i did today
was find a rhyme for my dis.
because its obvious to me
that in this country
and world i love today
something major is wrong,
something major amiss.

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