Abu Ghraib on C-Span (edit)

[mnaz]

Another panel confronts Geneva;
paneled chamber, sealed conscience.
Echo chamber of decorum and dues.
Divided mind and diverted belief.
Committee of a haggard smile,
to update organized inhumanity.

Latest rules.

From the heartland,
to a hail of blood-soaked punditry.
Freedom lives in fatigue, to march, to subjugate.
Debunk the enemy street in guided flame.
God will, in shock will and spent awe,
inspired dust, rubble, and limbs.

Latest paradigm.

Paradox,
Steel complex, steel box, captive.
Thicket of computation, confiscation,
Structure bolted high enough to top hubris.
Frozen girder, calm frostbite view.
Note the ceaseless freedom armor.

Latest word.

Security.
Steel box, steel complex, captive,
built around a haggard smile chamber,
built along a faultline of collateral hell.
When the chief flies over his wreckage,
does he recognize his neighbor?

Latest policy.

Bold, resolute.
for honor, duty, and country,
from roots of sought truth and survival,
to a ghetto of image; victory and posture,
long-distance drop, wired disconnect,
electronic scorched earth plume.

Latest theory.

Profit.
All cultures kneel before God,
blown to high heaven or high service;
swept under pavement either way,
under crush of industrial peace,
God-given, gunpoint market.

Latest prayer.

Endurance.
Pain of unquantifiable loss,
across ten-thousand mile patriot will.
God bless the true first faith.
God bless the second wave.
God bless the killing field.

Amen.

[hester_prynne]

A very good read mnaz, and the last two lines add the kind of gritty right-on gusto that I totally appreciate.

Nice one.
H

[Zlatko Waterman]

Good work, mnaz.


Your last lines put me in mind of e.e. cummings's:



"notice the convulsed orange
inch of moon "

Genius in the service of peace.

Thanks for noticing.


Your friend in convulsion against the killing bureaucrats,


Zlatko

[mnaz]

Well..... I have to admit.... I'm not sure.

I wrote this one while fairly drunk and angry....
suckered in again by the TV 'on'-switch and a shot or two of booze.... (generally required to sit through any length of C-Span coverage)....

I dunno. I've reread this a few times.
I feel the fire coming through.... it might be a little over-the-top....
perhaps a little obvious, or even one-sided....
I need to work on it some more....

Great Cummings quote.... inspiring.

Thanks Z, and Hester.

appreciate it.

[Zlatko Waterman]

Thanks for replying, mnaz:


Let us not forget ( as, for example, yesterday I was reading-- on Cinco de Mayo-- Martin Luis Guzman's wonderful book, "The Eagle and the Serpent" -- the history of the Mexican Revolution, told by an insider, with an incandescent and sustained portrait of Francisco (Pancho) Villa . . .)-- let us not forget, I say-- the genius of Edward Estlin. A great poet, not frequently enough read nowadays ( but a tremendous favorite-- as big as Kahlil Gibran ( hmmmm?) in the sixties when I was in college . . .)


Cummings was also a fine painter:



( Ken Lopez's excellent site)

http://www.eecummingsart.com/gallery.php





Here's the whole thing:





(SONNETS--UNREALITIES)

XXIII


notice the convulsed orange inch of moon
perching on this silver minute of evening.

We'll choose the way to the forest--no offense
to you, white town whose spires softly dare.
Will take the houseless wisping rune
of road lazily carved on sharpening air.

Fields lying miraculous in violent distance


fill with microscopic whithering
. . .( that's the Black People, cherie,
who live under stones.) Don't be afraid

and we will pass the simple ugliness
of exact tombs, where a large road crosses
and all the people are minutely dead.

Then you will slowly kiss me




--e.e. cummings

[mnaz]

'pass the simple ugliness of exact tombs, where a large road crosses and all the people are minutely dead.'....

brings to mind a ghetto of victory.... of image and posture,
paved squarely over an anonymous, push-button, unreported collateral hell..... shattered lives as an irrelevant long-distance number.... unimportant to the victory coverage....

but then, it could be that I'm predisposed to read it in that way....

Thanks, Z.


Here's my latest take..... "Abu Ghraib on C-Span"

Another panel confronts Geneva;
paneled chamber, sealed conscience.
Echo chamber of decorum and dues.
Divided mind and diverted belief.
Committee of a haggard smile,
to update organized inhumanity.

Latest rules.

From the heartland,
to a hail of blood-soaked punditry.
Freedom lives in fatigue, to march, to subjugate.
Debunk the enemy street in guided flame,
God will, in shock will and spent awe,
inspired dust, rubble, and limbs.

Latest paradigm.

Paradox.
Steel complex, steel box, captive.
Thicket of numbers and confiscation.
Structure bolted high enough to top hubris.
Frozen girder, calm frostbite view.
Note the ceaseless freedom armor.

Latest word.

Security.
Steel box, steel complex, captive,
built around a haggard smile chamber,
built along a faultline of collateral hell.
When the chief flies over his wreckage,
does he recognize his neighbor?

Latest policy.

Bold, resolute.
For honor, duty, and country.
From roots of sought truth and survival,
to a ghetto of image; victory and posture,
long-distance cut, wired disconnect,
electronic scorched earth plume.

Latest theory.

Profit.
All cultures kneel before God,
blown to high heaven or high service...
swept under pavement either way...
under crush of industrial peace,
God-given, gunpoint market.

Latest prayer.

Endurance.
Pain of unquantifiable loss,
across ten-thousand-mile patriot will.
God bless the true first faith.
God bless second thought.
God bless the killing field.

Amen.