down on their knees again

eyes squinted tight

hoping, wishing, hoping,

wishing…

“praying”

for something or other

that will specifically &

uniquely appear on their doorstep

solving all their current problems &

washing away any possibility of

a return to their present desperate state---

and nothing happens.

not a voice

not a sign

not an “angel” showing up to don its perty…

tomorrow

all the hackers fed up with the way that

the empire has been dealing with the people on this planet

combine their skills

in order to break into the most secret of databases,

that which controls the release of our nuclear onslaught,

meant for whatever nation or people

ends up picking the shortest straw or making the

biggest mistake in our eyes,

as we still control the world with

nothing more than…

person a: so who are you gonna vote for this election?

person b: omitted

person a: see, it’s people like you that make this country fail the way it does---all you do is complain & you won’t even vote!!

person b: omitted

person a: have you ever voted? you know, you have no right to complain about your country if you are given the chance to vote to change it & you refuse. 

person…

with the threat of permanence comes dependence &

with dependence comes vulnerability &

with vulnerability comes sacrifice &

with sacrifice comes reducing one’s own life by half or more &

with the reduction comes a lack &

with the lack comes a void &

with the void comes the naïveté that it can be filled by ungrounded belief &

with ungrounded belief comes faith &

with faith comes the refusal to provide…

10 years now with 171

prisoners locked away---

out of sight &

out of mind for most people---

as 46 of these are held

indefinitely,

having no chance whatsoever at

justice,

89 have been approved for release.

89 prisoners in gitmo get to dance round

without their friends or family

knowing that they were supposed to be

out of there months ago &

for some, years ago---

still, they…

if when mitty looked out into the crowd &

told us all sitting at home

that “he likes being able to fire people,”

you smiled or

clapped,

or clapped & smiled,

then you have probably never been fired from a job---

you have certainly never been “let go,”

or as they say in manager-speak,

“no longer with us.”

when what he said rang home to you,

what exactly did you feel?

did you say to…

four

US

marines

pissing on

the

corpses

of the

“enemy”

which in

the early 80’s

had been

supported by

the CIA &

the ISI---

giving those

most radical

“65,000 tons

of US made

weapons &

ammunitions

by the end of

1987” in the

attempt to stop

the “evil empire”

from polluting

others with…

s/he wants to “save” you from yourself

to make themselves feel like they have a

purpose,

as if they were put on this planet by some greater force,

something that spoke to them &

said,

“dearest subject, you need to help johnny doe!

yes, you need to help jenny doe!  for they are on the

path to self-destruction”---

and yet,

the context of this destruction of the self

never changes---

the savior thinks that…

dear miss or mister

still-believing-in-the-“dream”---

which face that you see being displayed on your

screens,

do you think will get us into a war with Iran

first?

will it be mr. hope & change,

whose translucent slogans were

transparent to many of us,

even prior to his ascendance,

whose own hands became bloodied/dirtied on

the way up,

and who now spends his time

twisting on the marionette…

haves: knock knock.

have-nots: who’s there?

haves: orange.

have-nots: orange who?

haves: orange ya ready for more of the same?…

carved cruicifixes,

slashed n’ sliced stars of david,

chiseled taijitus,

hacked stars n’ crescents

cleaved christs

dissected n’ shaped buddhas,

engraved menorahs

chipped n’ etched away Confucius

trimmed dharmachakras

whittled & molded muhammad

severed n’ separated astrological zodiac signs

snipped aum

chopped n’ cracked pentagrams  

lopped off lotus flowers

shaved n’ grated ichthys…