we’re going to show you

some images now

we want you to respond

with the first thing

that comes into your head

here goes

yeah

she’s hot ain’t she?

too bad she’s so young

and so well dressed

and you’re such a loser

also she’s a Republican

next one

oh you filthy minded pig!

I mean she’s really really

young

you just told us something

we wanted to know

how about this one

well come on

spit it out

what?

you want the car?

you don’t want the woman?

good

now we’re getting somewhere

if you have the car

you can get the woman

and that’s what you’re trying

to conceal from us

we know all about you

and finally

yeah that’s a dead little girl

and you just killed her

isn’t this fun?

now we’re going to let you

write out a full confession

use the form below

no we don’t take

American Express

that’s the other people

the ones that are waiting

for you

and they’re not very nice

like us

you can put on your pants now

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, VT.

Yeah…that will be us soon.  And meanwhile, who knows what the ghouls are up to?  This is one of my favorite poems.  If we ever learn to treat animals decently, maybe we’d have half a chance.  Well…

 The Animals

when you cut them open

you can not find

where this unconditional

love comes from

we have even tried

torture but they will not

give up their secrets

yet we know it is there

a product for enormous profit

you can see it in their eyes

when you tie them down

so far all we have are scents

and fashion statements

we need more government funds

imagine what we could do

with this power in their eyes

we would be like gods

a science from the heavens

the fools who picket our lab

do not understand

what we are all up against

our enemies are working too

whole species have disappeared

our time is running out

you can see it in their eyes

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.

so glad Obama can prove his birth

it was making me uncomfortable

giving me some homesick flashback

you know about me don’t you?

I’m your average American lost

in time and space in the Comfort Zone

when the corporations murdered

Jack Kennedy I was so relieved

by the Warren Commission report

and next thing I knew I was here

where nobody would tell me exactly

what’s what except not to worry about it

since 1964 I’ve been trapped here

not that I’m complaining mind you

but sometimes I long to go back

back when maybe we could fix things

by speaking out about the obvious

like what was WWII all about anyway?

like when did graduated income tax

become tax breaks for the rich?

and all these wars we don’t really need?

still it is comfortable here

they let me have everything I need

well maybe not as much anymore but hell

I can’t do anything about that  can I?

I can’t get out of here  there’s

a goddamn force field or something

sometimes I think maybe what the fuck

who cares anyway?  it’s like nature

shit happens and the planet’s in on it

but I’m so glad Obama was really born

they say now they can genetically

engineer people  even leaders

I don’t want to think about this stuff

there’s a fucking game on today

and my team is going to beat your team

professional sports are incorruptible

here in the Comfort Zone  and I can

take a nap on the couch besides

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt

And Holy Shit!  This just in…30 seconds ago.

Donald Trump escalated his questions about President Obama at a press conference just now breaking up outside the New York Stock Exchange.

Trump has previously charged Obama with being an illegal alien (see Trump Statement At Ellis Island), and on Monday (see Trump Statement On As The World Turns), Trump accused the President of being a ‘poor student’ not worthy of admission to Columbia University and Harvard Law School.

Obama released full and detailed Hawaiian birth certificate records this morning, and the New York Stock Exchange has been fluctuating as of mid-day.  The President has yet to respond to Trump’s questions on his academic record.

But, just moments ago, Trump released his latest bombshell:  “I would like to know if the President has ever in his life told, what we all know as, a stupid honky joke.  I have sources who have told me that, not only has he made them in the past, but, since he became President, has been making more and more of them.  I challenge President Obama to deny this, and, further, if the President does not respond to this request, well…I will be forced to make him respond.  Then Americans will see the President’s true color.  And mine.”

And then Trump cited former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman’s testimony at the famous OJ trial:  “Fuhrman said, as we all recall, he had never said or thought the N word in 10 years. Come on.  Even I’ve done that.  A lot.  So, it stands to reason that the President has had his lapses, and the American people demand full disclosure.  I can assure you, I have a long long list of questions about Obama.  I haven’t even gotten into his sex life yet.  I’m saving that for next year.

“No, no questions,”  Trump concluded.  “What, you clowns work for me.  You want to get fired!”

   

We’re having a party for you

Because we love you oh yes we do

And cause partying is what we do

We’re making a big mess for you

Here’s some plastic plates and cups

And some vomit that needs cleaning up

And our signs that say “Green It Up”

Made from bioundegradable stuff

Yes this is your special day

And all this garbage is our little way

Of saying the things we can’t say

Cause we’re assholes but we hope that’s OK

So here’s to you one more time

Blow out the candles on the strip mine

Make the sky blue and the sun shine

As we drive to the gas station line

Yes we love you o dear Mother Earth

Love you to death down to our astroturf

And the junkyard your tsunami unearthed

And all the oil and all it is worth

Yes we’re having a party for you

We thought it’s the very least we could do

After all that we’ve put you through

It’s hard to come up with something new

Happy Day, Earth, You Old SonOfAGun!  Your check is in the mail.

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.  

I will not turn you in

but I will turn away

when the time comes

for them to take you

away kicking and screaming

into the custody of fear

we all have our fears

one of mine Anne is

that the airline won’t

let me board after finding

something on me I wrote

about some evil far away

and ruin my vacation

so I must turn away now

from labor movements

war protesters and the most

helpless and tormented

from my neighbor who makes

trouble with the town

from my friends who speak

in a forbidden language

Anne you must learn to hide

better so I won’t have to see

what I must turn away from

to not look to save myself

for the tomorrows I must live

when all is taken away

yes you must hide yourself

hide your anger and grief

your art and your politics

your love of what is forbidden

then I won’t have to look away

I won’t have to look at all

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.

you don’t get a birth certificate

for being hatched

nor for crawling out

from under a rock

you don’t get one for being a hand job

or an abortion (all the fuss is about?)

or for being a shit (literally)

and you corporate persons?

show me your birth certificates please

I’d like to see how you got

all these rights us born folks

don’t got

does Donald Trump have a birth certificate?

nah  he was the baby in It’s Alive

the doctors tried to kill

but he got away

does Glenn Beck have a birth certificate?

I just don’t think an ooze out of slime

can legitimately be called birth

so come on, you scumbags

show us your birth certificates

cause it’s getting harder and harder

for us to believe you were really born

I mean, if you were, it must have been

through a very unnatural act

so stay away from the schoolyards please

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.

   Black Rain

they’re doing it again

in ’44 & ’45

they sent us

balloons with bombs

then we dropped

the Big One

here in Vermont

the rain is not

to be swallowed

higher levels

of radioactivity

measured near

Vermont Yankee

can now be blamed

on Pearl Harbor

America under attack

candidates will

spread the word

plutonium orbits

in the kazes

diving down

here and there

like banzai capitalism

candidates know

how a good disaster

can stimulate

yes there is money

to be made in death

the ultimate victory

unconditional surrender

demanded by a nature

too stupid to care

what it does

because no one

can stop it

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.

who is John Gault?

or is it John Gaul?

whatever  Anne Rand (Ann?)

is one of our heroes

we’re going to the movie

the book is too long

and it has big words

but we know no gays

or socialists or Moslams

will be there

we’ll be watching for them

all six of us

this will be our answer

to all those intellec…intelectuals

we have our authors too

we just can’t read them

but we don’t have to

cause we have our candidates

did you know Tom Salmon

is an Objectionist?

and so is Sarah Palin

that’s why she writes

on her hands

you wait til next year

we’re going to take over

then it’ll be your turn to ask

who is John Gaalt?

he’s going to the White House

as in White

we can spell that

and after we take over

nobody will have to spell anyway

why bother spelling

when you can make a sign?

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.

(AND–Today is a Bad anniversary day.  43 years ago, in Memphis, they murdered Martin Luther King.

When you remember the courage and eloquence of that man, and what he stood for, the people I’m talking about above don’t seem very amusing after all.)

CLOSE THE COUNTRY

many many more cases today

it’s as if talking about it

makes people feel sicker

I had to reassure a child

whose care was cut for lack of funds

when the committee declared a crisis

told him how it’s going

to be all right  it’s

almost over  but I know better

there are remedies

I told the committee

the carriers are the problem

they seem happy and healthy

yet more people are sick

struck down inexplicably

there are no funds left

to provide rudimentary relief

homes are being abandoned

if only the media

had reported when it began

symptoms could have been treated

why do the carriers thrive

while all these people die?

why are they immune?

we only have words now

that we are afraid to utter

lest we are taken ourselves

yet I have studied this disease

I believe it must be talked about

the only hope to find a cure

people must go to the committee

demand emergency actions and the funds

the carriers have been given

for I fear the committee will let it

burn itself out on those of us

who are weak and most susceptible

then say to us as I said to the child

it’s all right now  all over

you can go about your business now

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, VT.

(Thank you, Al stop)

pity us all

for a world

gone wrong

pity life

and love

snow covers

intentions

faster now

in a blink

we give up

caring

surrender

to doom

sell out past

and future for

one more day

have no need

of passion

hope or desire

couple merely

not to think

snow covers

our graves

already dug

time catches up

passes by

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.