POETS AGAINST WAR, a collaboration between Caza de Poesia (www.casadepoesia.com)
and Veterans for Peace (www.arlingtonwestsantamonica.org), bringing together the creative voices of the peace movement for a day of protest and inspiration, on World Poetry Day, Sunday, March 21, 2010, at the Arlington West Memorial.


Mark Lipman







Third Populist Manifesto

The sons of another
        Whitman awake
Retake the word
Retake the song
There is no time now
         for sleeping till noon
               in your shuttered rooms
There is no time now
         as New York crumbles
               beneath our feet
                        under the trampling
                                      of a nation of sheep
         as Kabul is wiped
                        off the map
         as the Palestinian
                        follows in the footsteps
                                    of the Native American
            gone with the echoes
                        of a thousand mother’s cries
                                    everyone asking “Why?”


Not for freedom
Not for democracy
But for a new kingdom
ruled by philanthropy


Yes, blood is thicker
            than water
but not as thick
            as oil


How many must still
            be killed
            to keep the drills
                                    alive


Where are the new Ginsbergs
            the new Dylans
            the voices of a new generation
            with their cut-up jeans
            and back packs


Where are all the great
            minds of today
Still roaming their
            dark alleyways?


Yes, Ferlinghetti is still alive
            but so too is Berlusconi 


The usurper is still
            in the House
And all the voices
            remain silent


How many Kyotos
            must be rejected
How many Johannesburgs
            over-ruled by a party of one
How many rulers selected
            and promises broken
before we stand up
and speak out
and take back
what should be ours
            guaranteed by birth


Whitman’s wild children
            are all alive and well
So put down your glasses
            and pick up your pens
Get on your buses
            all going “Further”
And let your voices
                        be heard.







Eat Your Fill of Gold

Rolling through the past,
into the future.
Those who do not read history,
are bound to repeat it.
Those who do not learn from their mistakes,
are bound to suffer,
rolling into the future.

A locomotive out of control.
Armageddon comes not too soon
for the computer age.

HURRY UP - FASTER

GET TO THE END.

The end is closer than you think.
Civilizations lost in the eye of a blink.
Dinosaur men standing on the brink,
stampeding towards extinction.

Never once did Midas
consider the consequences.

Eat your fill of gold.

Your greedy lies.

Blind your eyes.

The womb is dead.

What good is a fortune
to the stillborn,
to a lifeless head,
to America,
owned by foreign investors.
Foreclosed.
Sold to the highest bidder.
Your dreams are now
made in China.

Junk bonds.
Junk food.
Junk life.

L a n d f i l l.

That is what you are,
what you have become.

Fear has consumed you
and left you with nothing.
Fear has killed you.
Fear has.
Fear.

Afraid to live.
Afraid to die.

Eat your paper gold.

EAT - EAT - EAT

your worthless fill.

CONSUME
EAT
SHIT
DIE

BUY NOW BUY

EAT
CONSUME
DIE

SHIT

Is that all?
Is that the best you've got?

A pile of shit
in your greedy hand.

BUY - BUY - BUY

SHIT

BUY - SHIT - NOW

EAT

CONSUME

DIE




Rethinking Security

Us and them.
Us and them.
How many slogans
does it take to change
         a light-bulb?
Click in your head.
Calling all giants:
It's time to wake up.

No, you can't hit the snooze alarm
for another five minutes
... because
... because you've been doing that
for eight years now.
That's why.

... don't give me that shit,
you're doing your part.
Changing the government
takes more than voting.
You've gotta be active.
Get involved.
Care.
That's the main thing,
you've gotta care.
... oh, you don't
Well ...
Let me phrase it this way:

Renewable energy is
homeland security.

Fair trade
solves immigration.

Nuclear weapons
define insanity.

And how about
Free Healthcare
for the entire nation

... the world as a whole,
for every last one of us
and not just for
the rich fuck up on the hill.

While we're at it
Affordable Housing
reduces crime

It's a no brainer.

People before profits.

How many times did you bail
                   the bankers out?

They got the butter,
the money of the butter
and the milkman's daughter on top.

What did I get?

I got to lose my house
to these greedy bastards
who engineered a meltdown.

Where's an independent
congressional investigation
when we need one?

And dear Mr. President,
when are you going to
show some balls
and do what you were elected to do?
Namely standing up to the bullies
and standing up for us
we deserve nothing less
we put you where you are today
you asked for the job
you said you could handle it
well, then you better start
leading it
leading us home out of war
leading us to

SINGLE PAYER UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE

If France and England
and Cuba
can treat all their people free
so can we.

I don't want to step out of this urinal
just holding hope in my hands.

The strength of a nation
rests in the weakest link
on the face of homelessness
on the link of fear
on the chain of hate
in the jail of ignorance.

Set the people free.
Oh, set we the people free.
Freedom is
a lot of hard work and organizing
and it's worth every
drop of sweat and tears.

When you can taste freedom,
dripping juice from you mouth,
when it thumps in your heart
a sledgehammer
against the castle doors
and lifts you up
off of your couch
                   in front of Oprah
and sets you down in the streets
at your congressman's door
on his phone
at: 1-800-427-8619

That number again:
1-800-427-8619

That's right,
you too can
CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSMAN
YOUR SENATOR
for FREE at:
1-800-427-8619

And politely chew them a new one
for not standing up for you,
for me, for any of us.

Just pigs at a troth.

We were a lot safer
before all the lies
for an endless war.

We are all the innocent civilians
and collateral damage
no matter what side of the line you're on.

We're the ones who keep
getting killed
the ones who get our limbs
blown off.

Soldiers and their victims
are all led to slaughter
while politicians
and bankers
take all the spoils
in bloody fucking
oils.

Didn't you know that
the earth was waterbased?
It melts when you add fire.

Peace is no longer just
Patriotic,
it's vital to
our National Security,
to our entire planet.

Now.
Now.
Now.

I want peace,

Now.
Now.
Now.



Imposing Democracy

When you have to
Terrify your own
People into giving
Their freedoms away,
We say it’s
Guaranteeing security.

When you invade
Another country
To steal their wealth
And establish your own regime,
We call it
Setting people free.

When you bomb
A tiny village
While all its people
Are fast asleep,
That is known as
Collateral damage.

And when you rob
From the poor
To subsidize
Your rich friends’ wallets,  
Well, I’d say that’s graft,
But maybe you’d call it
Paying homage.

When there are
Police at every corner
No, that’s not repression,
It’s maintaining order.

When all the news
Tells you to follow
The government line,
They say that freedom
Of the press is doing
Just fine.

When you’re not
Capable of an
Independent thought,
Then you’ve received
A good education.

And when your health
Care runs out,
That’s just the benefits
Of privatization.

When we hide our
Sweat shops in China
We say that slavery
Is abolished.

And when your vote
Isn’t even being counted,
There are people who
Would call that
Universal suffrage

When a baby is shot
By a stray bullet
Maybe it’s officially
An accident,
But just try telling that
To the mother

And when the ice caps are melted
And the air is polluted,
No, that has not a thing
To do with your profits.

When you say
We’re at war,
I ask you
When haven’t we been?
That’s their version
Of peace without end.

Why is it that
The rules suddenly change
When you’re on
The wrong side
Of a color?

And while you’re at it,
Can you explain to me
How life in prison
Without a trial
Could ever be
“For their own protection?”


And when you get to choose,
Who has the right to live,
Is that what is meant by
“Having God on your side?”

When judges are allowed
To hand out the jobs
Is that thanks to having
Free and open elections?

I don’t know
What you think
About all this going on,
But if that’s democracy
Then something is
Very, very wrong.



No comments:

Post a Comment





Fog Can't Hide Some Things

Because They Were Happy and Free