Revolutionary
Letter #40
(for Emmet Grogan)
if the power
of the word is anything, America, your oil fields
...........................................................................burning
your cities in ruins, smouldering, pillaged by children
your cars broken down, at a standstill, choking the roads
your citizens standing beside them, bewildered, or choosing
a packload of objects (what they can carry away) if the
power of the word lives, America, your power lines down
eagle-eyed lines of electric, of telephone, towers
...........................................................of
radio transmission
toppled & rankling in the fields, settting the hay ablaze
your newspapers useless, your populace illiterate
wiping their asses with them,
IF THE WORD HAS POWER YOU SHALL NOT STAND
AMERICA, the wilderness is spreading from the parks
you have fenced it into, already
desert blows through Las Vegas, the sea licks its chops
at the oily edges of Los Angeles,
the camels are breeding, the bears, the elk are increasing
so are the indians and the very poor
do you stir in your sleep, America, do you dream of your power
pastel colored oil tanks from sea to shining sea?
sleep well, America, we stand by your bedside,
the word has power, the chant is going up.
