the house that war built

[mnaz]

we kicked the imperial bastards out
muskets and paul revere with a shout
wrote a new constitution, life and liberty
built a new house from old parts

we pushed west, destiny manifest
liberated the natives from their land
pushed them onto windswept mesas
as the new house took shape

we said all men are created equal
except for the half-men in slavery
so we destroyed ourselves in union
mason-dixon, marched into our own hell
sacked and burned our cities, re-enacted
bull run, pickett’s charge, revered the act
riverbed ghosts, soldiers clutching a song
in the house that war built

we fought the spanish, the kaiser
the mexicans and banana belt rogues
cowboys and indians, then it escalated
we fought hitler himself, the plague of evil
as the species glimpsed self-annihilation
in the house that war built

we fought the communists
above all, fought the communists
for in the new age of tv they had an agenda
surely they would come to make us slaves
we fought them ten thousand miles away
in the house that war built

we fought dwight too
who warned about the complex
the war industry, death merchants
nonsense! we screamed, full bore
war is good for the economy
in the house that war built

we propped up tyrants
against other tyrants even worse
and when deals had run their course
it was time to liberate, to go fight
the same bastards all over again
in the house that war built

we sold weapons
to the tyrants we fought
and the weapons market boomed
europe and russia were in on it too
we fought for empire and freedom
in the house that war built

we fought radical extremists
the muslims now, not the communists
fought them ten thousand miles away
they tried to kick the imperial bastards out
write a new constitution, liberty
in the house that war built

[Hollweg]

Sooner or later,
blow the world up to save it,
some fool will tell us.

[mnaz]

it was a flash i had this afternoon, a complete detour. it didn't come out like i first (quickly) envisioned... the last few stanzas were supposed to be more "riddle-like," but the gist of it is there i suppose. full circle and all that...

[Doreen Peri]

You are one FINE poet, Mark! Yanno that?

I love this!

[justwalt]

we'll fight until all the bastards are dead,
and then we'll kill 'em again just to be sure-
then we can fight eachother for a piece of bread,
and we'll have to call it... the doughboy's war-


they're setting the stage for the big one,
and maybe it'll just have to be.

[mnaz]

thanks doreen, walt. might still need to work this one over a bit.

i'll probably cut loose the first, more "american history" part of this write. maybe that's a whole different poem. anyway, the main thing i was thinking about were the various "war industry" aspects when i wrote this. although.... i guess that will make it tougher to convey the irony of rebels against exploitive imperialism becoming the exploitive imperialists. hmm...

maybe i could fit it into that cumulative-tale british nursery rhyme motif... a la "the house that jack built"... haha...

[saw]

as much as one might want to justify the righteousness of this war or that, there are always underlying motives that are not expressed to the public and certainly profit from the house that war built would be at the top of that list, heading even beyond number one into the infinity, a million times platinum soaring onward and onward with never the slightest consideration for the innocent lives lost.......

and they are not even all recorded, which should give you a very good perspective...lives to cheap to count...to this very day, the US remains ambivalent to civilian deaths wherever their latest house of war is going up...the government shrugs it off....they can't be bothered with those numbers......they have a war to fight......it will never be trite or over reported to keep this front and center....so, well done........