atrocities and true loves
grow old become new
hit us when the heart
least expects it
we are struck dumb again
unable to think
blush and bow our heads
say are you the atrocity
I have waited for?
should I dare to make a move?
show you I care?
no for this atrocity
is not a one and only atrocity
and you’ve been around
that block before
Peter Buknatski
Montpelier, Vt.
Ron Powers has just written an article called: “PC Insult To A Mark Twain Classic.”
Knew this was coming. Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t say it, don’t read it. NewSouth Books–Dumber Than A Box Of Rocks!
Obama enters…Iago (Gibbs?) exits…Obama speaks:
“O now, forever
Farewell the Nation’s Jim
Farewell the Critical Thought!
Farewell the N word and R word and all words
That have made Affirmative Action’s virtue!
O, Farewell!
Farewell to those who speak
The people’s language with rude throats!
And Farewell, O, Farewell to all
That has been written
Of our Nation’s inglorious past!
Farewell!
Haply for I am black
I can command those Legions
Who will give the Kiss of Death
To past and present and future
Works of those who would(st)
Scorn the tranquil mind of content,
Betray the course that I as a toad
Have loved not wisely but too well
For the sake of Ambition
And of Conquest and of Plunder!
Farewell to the Mark Twains
And Richard Wrights and James Baldwins
And all who would(st) call me Moor
Call me Slave, hurl alienations
Before a Nation now corrected
Through the pomp and pomposity
Of Glorious War upon
Its own blackened History
That puts forever out the Light of Doubt,
Never to be turned on again!
Hope and Change?
Nay. Farewell!
Obama’s occupation’s gone!
Peter Buknatski
Montpelier, Vt.
Rosie The Riveter
I am dead
did you know that?
seems Obama can’t acknowledge
any one but sports figures
I made the Arsenal
Of Democracy
back in the dear dead days gone by
when Americans made things
now they just buy things
Democracy?
did I defeat Hitler for what you have now?
this deadness? seems to me
old Adolf won
well women now have their place
right after obese Americans
and Michael Vick
and oh yes Joe The Plumber
I am history now
do Americans read anymore?
how to really do things?
how to make things happen
with your own two hands?
a cyber nation
a simulation of Democracy
online and trendy
even me
your ghost from the past
for I of course am dead
Peter Buknatski
Montpelier, Vt.
we got here at last
that time of year
they cannot ruin
even though
they will try
they must pause now
in the midst of toasts
to worry some
that we celebrate
love and joy
in spite of their hate
that people have
this in them
a power beyond
their grasp
they have taken
all the money
and still they feel
no love nor joy
god bless us everyone
yes even them
haunted this eve
by the ghosts
they have made
of their lives
Peter Buknatski
Montpelier, Vt
A Black Whale–Nay, A White Whale!
see the white whale rise
from the depths of blackness
as if through some oil slick
or other unutterable aberration
making it both black yet white
good yet evil to confound
all logical hope of seeing
its true nature as it changes
from a beast that beguiles
unto a beast that beckons us
into a maddening vortex
where its mockery reigns
what kind of beast is this
to shame us as it takes us
down into an abyss so deep
no hand can lift its shroud
nor any earthly imagining
grasp its goodness or its evil?
see it breach and spout
and circle us again and again
as though a dizziness upon us
it wishes before it acts
then it will no doubt swallow
us whole with its great white maw
made blacker still to shadow
the treachery in its mission
the rendering of our vessel
once so sound and true
but now a hapless ghost
no longer able to heave to
nor come about before
its black white jaws descend
leaving only our pity’s sake left
to attempt to tell the tale
Peter Buknatski
Montpelier, Vt.
Your Trickle-Down Christmas
Christmas Time
the barrel of a gun
in your mouth
the smell and taste
of the holiday season
how we get peace on earth
cock the hammer
put your finger
around that trigger
now think a moment
of Christmases past when
you dreamed of being rich
she’ll find you tonight
in bright red ribbons
under the tree
it’s the thought that counts
apply a little pressure
on that trigger
that’s it squeeze
ever so gently now
it’s Christmas Eve after all
outside they’re singing
songs about joy and hope
and of people who have jobs
squeeze a little more
heavenly peace awaits you
no check is in the mail
there was a time
you had your own song
they’ve taken away that too
squeeze just a little more
that’s it ‘click’
wasn’t so hard
now clean the gun
put it back in the box
and wrap it up real nice
she’ll say oh honey
just what I always wanted
kiss you and fuck you
you’ll die little deaths while
CEO Santa robs your home
and your President sells you out
all more trickle-down pissy shit
you’ll have to shovel like a slave
hoping for next year
that is
if they will even let you
Peter Buknatski
Montpelier, VT.
Correction:
Poor Suffering Rich
oh I’m so sorry
the Dems say you’re
paying your taxes
and that if we increase
your taxes you won’t
be able to trickle-down
a goddamn thing
how insensitive of me
to call you bastards
Nazis and terrorists
you’re just trying to live
I’m selling my extra boots
and warm winter coats
and sending you
a X-Mas check
the very least I can do
if there’s anything else
I can do for you
don’t even ask
just go ahead and take it
I had no idea how you suffer
calling you names
I’m so ashamed
like calling A-Rod
a fuck-up
like calling Obama
A-Rod
like calling
those who apologize
for you !#&*!/?@!
why you oughta pass a law
I know who’d vote for it
PS
You Can Get Anything You Want…
This is a little story about how I got tasered on Black Friday.
You see I was at the Mall with some friends at 3 AM waiting for them to open the doors to Alice’s New Gadgets & Jump Starters, cause I want–I FUCKING NEED–more gadgets, and as good Republicans now, me and my friends thought we’d jump start the economy some more the old fashioned Republican way, you know, buying shit.
Well, like I said, it’s 3 AM, but there’s a whole lotta people lined up. All kinds of people. There was hippies and yuppies and yippies and peace people and anarchists and Tea Baggers and gays and vegans and Communist gay vegan libertarians and Second Vermont Republic folks smoking pot and what looked like the entire Vermont Progressive Party and little kids screaming and dogs barking from parked cars and some environmentalists holding candles and signs and a bunch of people even we couldn’t figure out who they were except they looked like those folks you see every day collecting empty bottles and cans from the garbage bins and Tom Salmon and Michael Colby were there too.
Whew. I’m glad we got there early cause as a good Republican now me and my friends practice FIRSTNESS. You know, that’s how you gotta do it these days to get your stuff, and that Tom Salmon guy must know about it cause he starts in elbowing his way up the line telling everybody how happy he is that they voted for him only some folks must not of cause next we know there’s all this swearing and pushing and the environmentalists are hitting people with their signs and the anarchists are screaming at the Tea Baggers and the yuppies are yelling at the bottle people and the Gays start hollering too just like all the straight people and kids are running around whining and the dogs are going ballistic now and then I see Michael Colby handcuffing himself to a shopping cart.
Well, of course the police came. They got everything under control except they couldn’t get the handcuffs off Michael Colby and they started lecturing him about that shopping cart being private property while somebody from the Tea Baggers I think pushed one of the Progs behind us up against the window hard and next thing we knew there was all this screeching coming from the alarm system and everybody started pushing and screaming and biting again, saying things like: ‘ I been in Vermont longer than you!’ and ‘I’m a real Vermonter cause I was born here!’ and ‘Why don’t you go back to fucking New Jersey where you came from!’ and ‘Just sign the fucking petition, you asshole!’ and next, a WCAX van pulls up and starts filming all this stuff and the reporter sticks a mic in my face and asks me what I came here to buy. ???
See, I didn’t know how to answer that one cause the things a good Repubican buys are supposed to be secret so I says I was just here to get a pack of gum and a soda before they start taxing it and this cop looks at me and calls me a smart ass and I says ‘No sir, I’m a Republican,’ and next thing I’m on the ground writhing in pain and shock and awe cause this cop put the taser to me cause he must have been some kind of liberal or maybe even a hippie, and I can see them hauling away Michael Colby still handcuffed to the shopping cart and from there on the ground I can see Tom Salmon’s now got my place in line.
Well, I couldn’t get up and glad I didn’t cause the cops are tasering everybody now and cops are on the radios calling for backup and more tasers and helicopters to drop gas and straight jackets and Bill Sorrell pulls up in a car and tells the cops they should be checking to see if any of us are illegal aliens and now it’s 4 Am and they’re opening the doors and Tom Salmon gets in first and then they lock the doors again and this causes everybody to go completely nuts and they start jumping on the cops and grabbing their tasers and tasering them back and tasering each other and little kids are tasering each other and this National Guard helicopter drops a bunch of leaflets telling us all to go home and lock our doors and turn off our lights cause some Mexican farm workers are on the loose stealing organic vegetables and how this is the only National Guard helicopter and unit left in Vermont cause all the rest of the Guard is in Afghanistan and the ones who came back are on Holiday Leave and probably down there in the mob scene with us just trying to shop for new gadgets before they have to be assigned to Bill Sorrell for crowd control after he makes his next announcement about some great tax idea he’s got, so me and my friends got the hell out of there real quick cause we’re good Republicans and this is what happens when the liberals and the gays and Michael Colby conspire to ruin the traditional American civil right to shop for all the stuff we need to buy to help corporations fix the country cause you know sure as shit this mob of maniacs is going to fix anything and I even forgot what gadget it was that I needed so I’ll come back the next time they have a 4 AM sale and hope to hell this time there won’t be a whole bunch of non-violent offenders lined up on work release just to molest the little kids and sell dope to the anarchists and yuppies and do pre-versions with the barking dogs.
But I still say it’s good to get there FIRST. I’ve never been tasered before. Now I have a new, even longer song to write. You can get anything you want in America. You can be anything you want. And now, like a good Republican, I’m going to sit back, light a big number, make a martini, put on some Neil Diamond, look at my bank statement and fill out my taxes late and cheat on them cause after all when a good Republican is tasered just for going shopping, I think it’s time all good Republicans just stopped paying taxes all together and let all those crazy anarchist-gay-vegan-bottle picking liberals take care of the mess they’ve made. When a Rich Person like me can’t even go to the mall anymore, I tell you I think the Terrorists have won and we might just as well elect Sean Penn our next President so he and Madonna can turn the whole country into a Halfway House. And give the keys to bin-Laden. Or Ralph Nader. Boy, I could use a nice sleigh ride. I wonder if Michael Colby got released?
Peter Buknatski
Montpelier, Vt.
“Of all the blogsites in all the world, she has to come here. Well, they got Leftfield. One in, one out. What’s that you’re posting, Sam?”
“Just a little something I wrote up, Mr. Pete. About the Wars, the Injustice, the Hate, the Fear, and, of course, Gaza.”
“Well, knock it off. You know what I want you to post.”
“What’s that, Mr. Pete?”
“About a lady. And about a guy at the Republican National Convention with this comical look on his face cause his insides had just been kicked out.”
“You’re talking about Ms. Sarah, Mr. Pete. She’s no good for you. She only wants back those letters she gave you.”
“As if she isn’t in the news every day. As if I don’t think of her every time I see a working family getting the shaft, and that big oil spill in the Gulf. Huh. And Wall St., and WalMart, and wall to wall Capitalism. And now she wants those letters. Seems like if I have those letters, I’ll always be popular.”
“Mr. Pete, you could use those letters to save the world. She’s got the whole Corporate Plan in those letters.”
“Why should I? Why should I stick my neck out for anybody? I’m the only cause I’m interested in. Even if I gave those letters to Ralph Nader, he’d probably fuck it up. Better the goddamn world be put out of its misery.”
“Awh, you don’t mean that, Mr. Pete.”
“Maybe. But I’m going to hold on to those letters. If she thinks she can put one over on Fred C…wait a minute, wrong movie. If she thinks she can get me to help her, after all she’s already done, then I say to her: Go back to Alaska. It’s a good place to die.”
“Can I finish my post now, Mr. Pete. Are you all done?”
“I’ll all done. We’re all all done. Unless we can get Louie…I mean Obama to take a stand, it’s all pretty much over. Might as well catch the last plane out to Lisbon. If I could only get those letters out with me.”
“That TSA will find them and arrest you, Mr. Pete. Put you in that concentration camp.”
“Do me a favor, Sam”
“What’s that?”
“Those letters. I want you to keep them for me for a while. Hide them under your computer.”
“Well, if Ms. Sarah comes back with that Major guy, I guess she won’t look there. I don’t think she knows what a computer is.”
“Good. Huh. Mister, I met a man once…”
“What’s that, Mr. Pete.”
“Nothing. Just something in one of those letters. President? We’re in for it now, Sam.”
“I know, Mr. Pete. But I just want to say one thing: Here’s looking at you, Mr. Pete.”
“Who’s looking at me? What? Where?! Goddamn government!!!”
Peter Buknatski
Montpelier, Vt.
(and for Leftfield and Rama)
“isn’t it true mr./ms. blogger
that you have occasionally made
the crude joke that could be
construed as not only homophobic
and racist and sexist but also
radically out of step with those
of us who stand for true democracy
and correct thought and feeling good?”
“well, mr. front-pager, I…”
“comment yes or no please”
” mr. front-pager, I was merely pointing out…”
“I’m waiting for a yes or no reply”
“I can’t see anything homophobic
or racist or sexist in my posts
nor do I see anything wrong
with making jokes about people in power
or people who willingly come to the defense
of those people in power because…”
“that is not a yes or a no
so I will interpret your response
as an attack upon all we are trying
to do here in creating a progressive
and enlightened community of blog
I am hitting the delete button”
“but mr. front-pager, I…(deleted)
(But the ‘Anyone But Dubie’ poster-babe, that’s not sexist. Hmmmm…Or, to coin a phrase: “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”)
Peter Buknatski
Montpelier, Vt.
(Kafka Lives!)
I was in The War To End All Wars
and the Big One–WWII
then there was Korea
and Vietnam–what a bastard
that one was
barely had time to rest
and recuperate before Reagan
started things up again
now it’s Afghanistan
and Iraq
sweet Jesus
as the GI said
in that movie A Walk In The Sun
next it’ll be The Battle Of Tibet
I wish you folks would
Do Something about all this
I could really use a break
I mean a Long Break
like say for 92 years at least
maybe by then we’ll
have figured out a better way
to live with each other
instead of killing each other
anyway I got your letter
I feel real sorry for
all you civilians suffering
with the economy and healthcare
and letting the nitwits
run the country
yeah I feel like Real Sorry
for you
I’m still over here
maybe if I were back home
I could help you fix things
think about it
think Hard about it
I’ve got to go now
92 years of this shit
it’s getting old
Peter Buknatski
Montpelier, Vt.