Swans


 

Stay The Course

by Gilles d'Aymery

June 7, 2004   

 

Strange how a country enamored with change remains so determined to stay the course...

So let's stay the course...



Keep lying, fabricating, prevaricating,
          Channeling the lies through sorry media,
Keep killing in the name of those lies;
Keep militarizing the lands, the oceans, even space;
Keep spending more and more on instruments of death,
          Depleted Uranium, radioactive death,
          Nuclear, hydrogen death,
          Cluster bomb death,
          Any death.

Keep sending extra fodder for cannons to far away lands,
          To those countries that never attacked you,
                    Weak, defenseless.

Keep torturing, abusing, mistreating,
Keep arresting people on false charges,
          Build more prisons,
          Hire more cops,
          Buy more guns,
Keep trumping their rights,
          Humiliate their human dignity,
          Terrorize them, break them,
                    Maim, kill,
                              The poor,
                              The downtrodden,
                              The disenfranchised,
                              The non-white,
                              The "other"
                                        Maim, kill, kill, kill.

Keep destabilizing and invading nations,
          From Vietnam to Nicaragua,
          Iraq and Yugoslavia,
          Cuba and North Korea,
          Venezuela and Zimbabwe,
          Iran and Syria,
          More, ever more,
                    Year in, year out,
                    Axis of evil,
                              Evils all.

Keep encircling China,
          The strategic enemy,
          The yellow peril, Asian threat,
                    Threats, threats,
                              Fear.

Keep exploiting the underclass all over the world,
          Bully governments,
                    Bust unions,
                              Blackmail,
                              Bribe,
                              Break,
                              Burglarize,
                              For quarterly profits,
                              Obscene wealth,
                              Pornographic riches,
                                        Greens, greens, greens,
                                        And WASTE.

Keep pilfering, pillaging, plundering nature,
          Erode topsoil,
          Deplete aquifers,
          Mine, drill the earth,
          Exhaust the oceans,
          Pollute everywhere,
                    Your yard and neighbors,
                    Your communities and counties,
                    Your country,
                    The air you breathe,
                    The food you eat,
                    The water you drink,
                              Keep polluting, keep, keep, keep.

Keep buying new, bigger, faster vehicles,
          For longer commutes,
          For shopping at the Mall,
                    For shopping, shopping, shopping,
                              The chapel of consumerism,
                    For the Joneses,
                    For self-importance,
                              Self-satisfaction,
                              Self-congratulation,
                              Self, self, self,
                                        More, more, always more.

Keep building high walls around your gluttonous houses,
          Your gated communities,
          Your work places,
          Your borders,
          Your barbed-wired minds;
                    Spy on the next-door fellows,
                    Call the authorities,
                              Authorities, authorities,
                                        Alarm, cameras, sentries,

                                        Defense, security, safety,
                                        Insurance,
                                                  Cops, cops, cops.

Yes, keep living with yellow, orange, red alerts,
          Alerts, alerts, alerts,
                    Psychosis, paranoia, neurosis,
                              Fear, FEAR,
                                        Dystopia,
                                                  Denial.

You are the masters of the universe, after all,
          You know it all,
          You want it all,
          You deserve it all,
                    All, all, all,
                    For goodness sake,
                              And freedom,
                              And Democracy,
                              Yours only;
                                        The few,
                                        The proud,
                                        The brave,
                                        The chosen,
                                                  Barbarians.

Stay the course,
          Stay the course,
                    Stay the course, indeed,
                              Indeed, indeed,
                                        STAY THE COURSE!
                              The course,
                    The course,
          The course,
The course...
          The course...
                    The course...
                                        .....


 
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Resources

America the 'beautiful' on Swans

Iraq on Swans

Poetry on Swans

 

Gilles d'Aymery is Swans' publisher and co-editor.

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Published June 7, 2004
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