AUSTIN AGAIN
Whenever I’m in Austin
I’m in a skin that feels like home
scratch me anywhere you’ll find a poem
Monthly Archives: October 2006
THINKING WITH DICK
THINKING WITH DICK
Chaney thought, or said he did
that the people of Iraq
would welcome us with open arms
For protection we would need
no Kevlar vests or armored up Humvees
Probably just a few of these
for the grateful women of Baghdad
before us on their knees
HAMMAS BOO BOO
HAMMAS BOO BOO
Encouraging democracy alone won’t do
next time remember to send
voting machines too
CONDOLEEZA TO IRAQ
CONDOLEEZA TO IRAQ
Another faux pas George
you throw Rice at weddings
not funerals
TWO HAIKU FOR BEATING AROUND THE BUSH
TWO HAIKU FOR BEATING AROUND THE BUSH
We do not torture
we just keep lowering the bar
and still keep tripping
————————
We don’t torture so
don’t give it another thought
we do it, it’s not
FOR C.A. WILES
FOR C.A. WILES
As I was saying to C.A. the other day
Well actually I wasn’t
but wished I would have been
If I had known he was dying any day
I would have said
You are my twice removed
and now about to be removed
connection to Buffalo Bill
where your father worked
the Wild West Show
I made note of it in a poem you might recall
And I would have said
I want you to know I am as proud
to have shaken your hand as his
And I would have said
You are a prince among men
and among princes
For, though Shakespeare
may not have foretold it
there may be as many
in Texas as in Denmark
I would have said all that
or met and not said it at all
And yet C.A.
if you and I should meet
some ghost lit night
as you step down
from your ghost rider rounds
to ponder your own
sweet moon blanched skull
as a princely poet just might do
I would say I’m sure along with you
and every poet here
Alas poor Yorick
we did not know you well
We did not know you well enough
CHENEY’S BAD DAY
CHENEY’S BAD DAY
Dick Cheney
just had the worst day of his life
he said so himself
The worst day in Dick Cheney’s life
was not the day John F. Kennedy died
or Robert Kennedy or Martin Luther King
The worst day in Dick Cheney’s life
was not one of the many when he learned
that dozens of the young and brave
he had helped send to Iraq
were not coming back
The worst day in Dick Cheney’s life
was not even 9/11
The worst day in Dick Cheney’s life
was hunting quail in Texas
after a beer or two
The worst day in Dick Cheney’s life
was when he pulled the trigger
and saw a man actually fall
saw a man actually bleed
A bad day for Dick Cheney
may be a good day for the world
A MUSING
A MUSING
Is a quail not lovely as a lawyer
and yet how long since the press
has reported the shooting of one
FRIENDLY FIRE
FRIENDLY FIRE
When Cheney pulls the trigger
it’s likely as not
that a partner not a bird gets shot
In Afghanistan allies tremble to a man
so much power – so little plan
Killing Canadians from Strathcona
and Cardinals from Arizona
And how many Iraqis now have died
who might really have been on our side
THE HUNTING BLIND
THE HUNTING BLIND
Seems like a strange name
Isn’t it the prey
that we’re wanting to be blind
The deer in grace and beauty
unable to detect
behind the brown green screen
The man with his guns
and a paper in his hand
given to him by another man
Brown eyes soft in gratitude she bows
to the gift of scattered corn
Maybe it is a good name after all
Maybe it really is the hunter who can’t see