Tuesday, September 18, 2007

even a fifteen day fast

against war
with another eleven days
to go
couldn’t shake the frat boys
into anything close to
what’s beyond their next beer

but some were reached
like a weepy eyed grandmother
some veterans
a whole lotta
deep hippies
deep green
deep believers
a new counterculture revolution
earth goddess gaia
to jesusmohammedmoses

we stand
with the fasters
not fasting ourselves
a military recruiter
gazes away quick
maybe thinking why
they’re still here
trucks & buses spit
unburned diesel
over crowded streets
emerging & broken dreams
the here & now
is the message
don’t wanna
even visualize
a resurrection

--- e b bortz

(published in The New People, Nov 2007)

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Alternative September 11th

Of course, there are Republican and Democratic politicians who abuse
the memory of those who died on Sept 11th for their own agendas of
war, empire, and vengeance.

Of course, there are Republican and Democratic politicians
who use the climate of repression to further repress...breaking up
immigrant families with brutal detentions and deportations. It’s hard to
determine who screams the loudest for the watchtowers and walls
along the Mexican border.

Of course, there are Republican and Democratic politicians who whine
in panic about the shortfall of military recruitment...they lament
the ‘good old days’ of an endless reservoir of human beings...cannon fodder
for the death machines provided by military conscription.
No Draft...No Way!

Of course, there are the real power brokers of Republican and Democratic
administrations...the war machinery and weapons manufacturers,
the military base builders, the fossil and nuclear energy corporations,
the sicko health industry and pharmaceutical lobbyists that block
national single-payer healthcare, the forest plunderers and mall developers...
these are but a few of the corporate paymasters masquerading
as political contributors.

And then, there is us...who remember those who died on Sept 11th
by rededicating ourselves to a just, peaceful, and sustainable world
by demilitarizing and democratizing our own society. On this and on
all future Sept 11ths, war-makers will shrill at the wind...
but WE must build community.

--- e b bortz
Sept 11, 2007
Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh