the president's war secretary

came to my door this morning
asking me to watch & listen
to him
closely tomorrow night

i told her i would
but hoped
there'd be no children listening

in fact
how will he explain
these wars of conquest
he continues
with his own children

i wanna know how many millions
of shoes
hospital beds
winter coats
schools
he'll be sending & building
without marines & tanks
blazing
without drone missiles

i don't care who gets the bounty
we've bled many thousands
of innocents
their pains last
generations
yet our families rush bloated
to the next holiday hog
sale

with greasy palms
we shake congress hands
wipe drooling lips
& leaky assholes
but don't forget
that extra spritz
to make it smell right

we could use some shock therapy
from the conscience doctor
& then a transfusion
minus the toxins
but i'm afraid none of that'll
be coming
tomorrow night
the dark falls as it does
each night
some cries will rise & be answered
some will trail off
into silence

--- e b bortz

earth note 131

avoiding the darkest clouds
of the week
is something of a consolation prize
tho nothing like
convincing yourself
it's the last warm day of glory
before the deluge

unspeakable is sometimes
survival mode
brown leaves pile
then scatter
the fastest ones
lead a path down the avenue
ahead of traffic

i've come to accept this
as being within the confines
of everyman's everyday
cycles of leaves and clouds
the work of each word
the spontaneity of phrase
.....singularity of a moment

--- e b bortz

earth note 130

will the moon rise
eagerly
& guide the tides
or will it chuck it all
find a new orbit
leave us
to our own make-believe
polar ice caving
hasn't yet
swallowed up euphoria
or a fossil politician's
blabbering dollars
washing ashore
chirping progress
is our process
your guardian
to the end

--- e b bortz

Ecology and Consciousness, 1998

my article in Synthesis/Regeneration 15, Winter 1998:

http://www.greens.org/s-r/15/15-10.html