Retaking America, Again

                               By Rudolph Lewis

The blue horizon, seasonal trees flash

orange & yellow against the evergreens

another autumn Sunday afternoon—

a brown leaf floats to earth

on the silent grounds of St. Mary’s

In the morning news a Chinook

chopper falls heavily from the desert sky

crashes with fatigued American boys

on their way to Baghdad International

to R & R

a deadly strike—

heat-seeking missiles from a palm grove

Charlie Rose chatters

with the charmingly informed—

a World Bank talking head

who speaks of Western self interest—

the imbalances of war and poverty

while urban poor pay for water in Senegal

In his new book Studs Terkel—

a critic of hypocrisy, fantasy, & war

of memory reclined on its fanny

struggles with despair like Chicano farmers 

                                             “hope dies last”

But for whom does the explosive death now toll?

A child carries a blood-blackened hand

to identify its owner

Flag-draped coffins jam a jet headed home—

Palestinians & Iraqis quartered with concrete walls & cutting wire—

gunshots & martyrs fired into the heavens.

The profit hunters seize Wall Street

with celebrations as profits roll merrily upward.

I withdraw from the madness for an evening

at Ras Doobie—Jamaican cuisine & Queen Nzinga

Kenyan coffee & ginger beer, jerked snapper,

rice & peas. Here we give thanks and love—

spiritually healthy we endure on

roots, culture, & peace

old soldiers from televised southern

struggles in ‘Sippi  & ‘Bama,

Little Rock, Memphis, & Atlanta

southeast Asia & ‘Nam

we knew today’s news yesterday—

Bush & Powell are no surprise

On the phone & on the net

brothers & sisters of goodwill now conference

for petitions, marches—declarations planned

to retake America, again.

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