On January 17, 1956 in the halls of Berkeley, America was
challenged to pull herself back together before she inevitably tears her
inhabitants apart. Almost 40 years later, history has shown that she has
not lived up to that challenge. Once again, America, this poem is for
you.
America I+ve given you my 40 hrs. in the passing week
and I+m planning on giving you 40 more in the week to follow.
America I+ve kissed your blossoming mornings with weary eyes
and listened to the fluttering of the city doves
before pulling my bones back into the shape
I shave in the mirror when my lover tells me
that I am scratchy.
America I+ve tuned into your television view and watched the rape of our
century, the scrutiny of the modern generation, the suicide of
young and dreaming minds and marveled as you sat back and watched.
America what is this you are putting on my screen, are broken talk-show
noses and the ability to loose 20 pounds in two weeks supposed to
amuse us?
America I give you so much respect, but I don+t want to hear
about any more juries or any more murderers, any more
actors or any more new evidence.
Go fuck yourself in your temporary insanity.
America why do we continue the human war?
Is Russia no longer the frigid enemy we mistook her for?
Why are you still the melting pot of oil and water, peppered with riots?
When you be worthy of your million Davidians?
America I am not a Davidian, though I appreciate a bonfire as much as
the next man.
America, your people are treating me as if I am an urban legend.
I am no urban legend.
Fensel was an urban legend but he+s gone off to Indiana, I don+t think
he+ll be coming back to Ohio, it+s sinister.
Are you sinister, America?
Are you as Dayton is: lacking vision and direction?
Fensel had visions, America, as do I.
In the land of the blind the visionary man is king,
that is why they consider me a legend.
But I am no legend because legends include heroes
and I+m not a hero yet.
I haven+t persecuted half as many people as a hero should.
I don+t exactly know who to persecute,
you+ve laid out quite a smorgasbord.
I could hate niggers or possibly a Jew or two if necessary.
Or how about a queer? Everybody loves to hate a faggot.
I don+t feel like hating anyone today, America. Is that all right?
America I just want a cup of coffee and a few cigarettes.
America why can+t you allow me this?
Yes, I know of the risks, the Surgeon General+s warning
that smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema,
sperm-count decrease;
That it may stunt my growth, impair my vision, lessen the miles
I can run consecutively, and may complicate my pregnancy
should I ever get pregnant.
And yes, I know about the caffeine, we don+t need to go into that one.
America, I can justify what I do and what I want to do
only by telling you that it makes me feel good.
America, you should slip that in your little book of morals.
America, what ever happened to the 60+s.
What happened to loving a man the way he is now
instead of later when we+ve molded him into what
an American should look like.
America I don+t think I have enough white paint to make a perfect world.
I don+t think that plastic surgeons will be willing
to shape every eye in you into a perfect oval.
I+ve fallen in love with a foreigner, America, I hope you can
forgive me.
America I don+t want to be lynched.
America I no longer wish to be a saint,
you+ve turned me off to wanting the holy touch of God.
Your insane demands are practically worthless
and your priest is touching my children in ways
that frankly makes me nervous.
I tell then not to talk to strangers
and now I+m telling them not to talk to holy men.
America are you holy?
America have you ever been holy?
I consider myself to be holy.
I consider everything and everyone to be holy,
even the mad bombers over in Omaha,
they have their point of views also,
though contrary to ours,
everyone just wants to be understood.
America O.J. must not die but his trials most definitely should.
America point me to a coffeehouse and leave me the fuck alone.
America have you heard what the youth inside of you
are doing these days?
How they romp around the dance floor and crawl on one another
and ride each other like waves in the sea.
This is communion America.
No longer do we drink wine in the image of blood or swallow bread
in some disgusting cannibalistic ritual,
We move in unison to the rhythm of our hearts, America.
We rely on one another to hold us high;
We trust a man we+ve never met before to keep our skulls
from cracking on the hard earth below us.
And what of this rumor of legalization, America?
I+ve started to roll the longest joint
and I+m not planning on quitting until
Marlboro puts out the ultimate green hard pack.
And when they do, America, I+m passing the shit around
and hoping it travels from coast to coast
then back to me so I can munch an international roach.
America even the cockroaches are betting against you.
I+ve seen them like dogs on purple velvet
smoking their cigars and cutting the deck,
saying that you will help them to world domination.
America I don+t like envying a cockroach.
I+ve got better things to do with my time;
at least I think that I do-
the cable company said that I do.
I+ve heard that soon I+ll be watching over 200 channels
on my television set, America.
That+s a hell of a lot of channels.
I hope I have enough hours to waste surfing everyone of them.
I+m going to run a channel just for you America.
I+m going to show your life, the good points and the bad,
from every racial perspective, then sell the rights
to the cockroaches so they can finish off the season.
They know technology better than we do,
though pretty soon we+ll become the technology
with cyberjacks and internets and electronic sheep.
The technology is too much for me America.
We+ve come upon a new West, America, a CyberWest-
the electronic frontier.
Maybe we can find somebody there to persecute.
Maybe there we+ll find some fool to trade our shines with.
Maybe someone in virtual reality will trade their land
for a dozen rifles.
America are you ready to conquer the great unknown once again?
I+m beginning to think you+re not as advanced as you claim to be.
What about the oceans and the outer limits, America?
You still don+t know if Martians built the pyramids or not.
How can you be ready to explore the realm of your own mind
if you can even grasp reality yet?
America why are personalities available in a bottle?
Is life then a placebo for what we can actually accomplish?
Am I swallowing what I haven+t even bitten into yet, America?
What am I going to bite into you ask, America?
I+m going to bite into crime,
I+ve always put great faith in hound dogs wearing overcoats.
I+m going to bite into the American pie
hoping it isn+t bittersweet like it seems to be.
I+m going to bite into the ass of your president,
he needs something to remind him why he+s our leader.
He seems to have forgotten about the future and what lies within.
He seems to have forgotten about The Third War To End All Wars.
Have you forgotten, America?
Have you forgotten the warning signs we+ve see in the movies?
People in some cataclysmic dimension
with wild hair styles from the 80+s
and everyone wearing used clothing picked
from the bones of the deceased?
I haven+t forgotten America.
I haven+t forgotten you.
You may have forgotten me, but I haven+t forgotten you.
I haven+t forgotten the way you burned my brothers,
or the way you bashed my queer sisters.
I haven+t forgotten the humiliation we serve
like a jail sentence, where the only hobby we are
capable of is scratching thin lines on the walls
to count the passing days;
Where a man named Denny is your only thought of sex.
I+m not saying he+s ugly, America.
I just don+t like the idea of peddling my ass
for a pack of smokes.
The coffee is horrible here, America.
We don+t need a war to unite us, America.
We need faith and assurance that unity is more than a dream.
We a need a leader, America.
The world is ready for another Jesus,
but this time take a picture of his father.
I hate being so confused on a persons gender or race.
I hate being confused in general.
America I am lost.
I+ve buried my mother and lost faith in my father.
I+m counting on a Korean to carry out my lineage,
but who will carry me out America?
Will you?
Will you pick me up in your brawny political arms
without judging me because I+m bisexual,
or dropping me because I+m a revolutionary,
or stomping on my because I+ve never loved God.
America can you spare a moment from your caustic dreams
to help me find my way home?
May 16, 1995