crack pipe calliope
a blown glass chamber quartet
for White House family reunion
a Bush-bin Laden joint venture
trained navy SEALs in waiter’s camo
                            serving Texas tea in cups of china white —
reasons to wake glib ghosts
              shake skeletons like shékéré
while hillbilly hangin’
’round the country store
at the Pentagon
    the Fed
    the outhouse on Pennsylvania avenue
where we find the highest crime —
America’s most unwanted —
our genius commander-in-thief

the first politician
who by words
&        acts alone
elevated the incomparable Dan Quayle
to maximum Mensa status —
Geo. Washington Bush
who tried chopping down a cherry tree
with his favorite red guitar
named “Rosebud”

this boy be our first puppet president —
they still use CIA hand towels
for White House toilet paper
while greed bleeds across the land
switching stripes of red for green,
Wall Street frantically converting
Enron shreds into economic tampons —
band-aids on a hemorrhage

and dancing at the end of the string,
bobble-head Shrub puppets
stoned on DOD Viagra
struttin’ multiple missile erections
anxious to get his jack on

daddy got puppy on a short leash
teleprompter skull implants
scrambled by microwave ovens
&               cell phones
triggering time-delayed toothless sound-bites
gummed beyond recognition

his Cabinet is a corporate nest,
each chick straining for dangling dollars —
droppings from Baldy’s inflamed anal cysts

Uncle Sam’s middle finger fractured
now John and Jane Public
are catching special op’s splinters —
Keystone cops conducting Chinese fire drills
                   stoking the flaming Bush
                   bringing Billy Graham bullet
&                                                bible benedictions,
with biscuits and gravy

“got flags?”

New Rome has it’s 21st century Nero
flailing air guitar
to news conference questions
and petitions for simple common sense,
trumpeting his plan —
harvesting old growth forests for lumber
                                     to save them from forest fire
playing 3 card marly
with fraud
       ignorance
&    oil

“we don’t need no stinkin’ violins!”

Pinnochio’s nose is now so long
it’s nearly mid-colonic,
puppet strings are fuses
                        burning back,
                        singing Gepetto’s fingers
                        igniting insights denied,
explosively unblocking throats
choked by dried cakes of patriotic vomit
unleashing a nation of rainbows
in red, white & blue confetti
collected in body bags
to be shipped to Arlington

the next word you hear
will not be
“war”

by

jamal
ali

© 16 october 2002