Thursday, August 27, 2015

Fear is my Co-Pilot


image borrowed from niul.org


Fear is my Co-Pilot

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark;
the real tragedy in life is when men are afraid of the light.”
--Plato.

I get up to fear
fixing my breakfast, & then
plotting my whole day.

How can those horrible hordes
swords
of pious pugnacious patriots ever break out
shout
of the mucus-lined terrible trenches
stenches
of scintillating sonorous sorrow,
tomorrow

finally elude the fallacious daydream of mink-gloved 
garish greed, whereby their red-necked pitiful palaces,
located dully dead-center in the vacuous wasteland of
vast rust-bucket trailer parks, 
                 their shaved-head vicious visage, 
                 their colorful prison/biker tattoos,
                 their White Supremacy bilious booklets,
                 their brutish benevolence, &
                 their mandatory attendance at KKK kamikaze camp-outs
& asinine Aryan Nation rallies all along the Idaho prick’s panhandle,

ALL seems to be rigorously righteous
       within their fascist fallacies &
                 their American Nazi fantasies,
       wherein Donald Trump could lead,
                     Jeb Bush could rig an election,
                     Glenn Beck could advise,
                     Sarah Palin could govern, &
                     Michelle Bachmann could join the Supreme Court.

I swear, every damn day, it seems
another mad dog murderer walks into
                     a bustling super mall,                     or
                     a full movie theater,                        or
                     a rural elementary school,              or
                     a starched recruiting office,            or
                     an unsuspecting Navy yard,           or
                     a slumbering military base              or
                     a commonplace commuter train      or
                     a salami-scented delicatessen        or
                     an infidel’s cartoon convention.
armed with a Russian AK-47 &
a dozen crammed lethal killer clips                      & sprays
                       soft-nosed brass-headed bullets like
                   demon rain into random bystanders;
              furiously fueled by Islamic deadly double-speak,
                                       by chest-splitting hate-mongering mentally
unstable conditioning,    by sadly surreptitious other-directing,
                                       by deceitful vacations to Syrian sack-of-shit
combat training camps   by pissy-promises of beauteous martyrdom,
                                       by too many moronic choices, 
                                       by unfortunate easy access to firearms,
                                       by trading Jesus for Allah--

although the dark dastardly denizens
that speak for either of them have twisted
love into larceny,
compassion into terror,
insecurity into paranoia,
stupidity into pride, &
dimples into death.

Yet in my idealist’s heart, I hope/believe/pray that the insidious insanity
of misplaced nationalism, the larcenous lure of fictitious personal power,
the rise of punk-bitch pride & thuggish bullying, grinning cruelty, limitless
capitalistic kopecks--could be somehow redirected onto a brighter sun-
dappled landscape, into that socialistic democracy as espoused by
Saint/Senator Bernie Sanders, where every unrealistic dream of equality,
perfect equity, unfettered freedom, & unharnessed honesty could come
true, where our fabulous fantasies of brotherhood could create heaven
in Helena, could reverse global warming, could curb billionaire’s choke
holds, defeat lobbyists & paid-for politicians, or actually practiced as 
good deeds by the dying Jimmy Carter.

I would love to just
awaken in a world where love
outranked hate; amen. 

          

Glenn Buttkus


13 comments:

brudberg said...

I think you have spiced this up excellently with the best of modifiers..and why do we let ourself be ruled by stupidity. Love and compromise, of optimize happiness... We could live in a perfect world, but we all want it to be more perfect for some...

Claudia said...

i too dream of a world without hate though know that it won't happen in this life
everyone of us though can help making the world a bit of a better place by loving those around us

KB said...

Glenn this is such a pointed poem and reminds me a bit of Howl in many ways--it has a drive to it that is relentless. >KB

Katie Mia Frederick said...

The Major Factors Underlying Rampage Killing.. is a 'special
interest' (Asperger's) of mineD.. literAlly seriously.. top hit on
Google with me at the HELm with other 'interesting' folks..

http://wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=218916

Social Roles are a biggest factor it seems.. we are social
animals after all.. and that explains why people blindly
follow so much bullstuff and do so many harmful
things.. anything.. to get accepted is the true sad
rule of human being.. and OH MY GOD if
a person comes to believe the entire
tribe is against them.. or nothing
goes their way.. then
bad stuff happens
and Rampage
Killings are
a barometer
of the health
of society as these
so-called rare events
escalate.. but in decade
50s' there are almost '0'..
none recorded.. go figure then
social roles are clear and defined..
as much as i am different i cannot
deny the importance in society of
clearly defined social
roles.. which
admittingly
i fail.. as 'class
clown'.. however
i go flow with
the JeDi more
and not so
much
SItH..:)

Anonymous said...

These lines got me that you speak the truth:

wherein Donald Trump could lead,
Jeb Bush could rig an election,
Glenn Beck could advise,
Sarah Palin could govern, &
Michelle Bachmann could join the Supreme Court.

I don't doubt one single bit that this will happen.

And if the people vote for Jeb Bush, may god have mercy on our souls, and strike us doomed.

Powerful! and drive poem my friend.


P.S New poem...stop by and read it. You will like this other piece.

Grace said...

If only love would prevail instead of hate, I agree with you ~ Admiring the mix of echo verse, superlative modifiers and haibun littered with political sarcasm ~ Your elections is getting very interesting, I say ~

kaykuala said...

armed with a Russian AK-47 &
a dozen crammed lethal killer clips
& sprays soft-nosed brass-headed bullets

Very vivid description of what they do with resolute precision of a killer. Great write Glenn!

Hank

Victoria said...

Dang, this is so power-filled. When I read it, I was so taken up with the subject that I forgot to pay attention to the modifiers, but who cares. This is getting to be so overwhelming.

tonispencer said...

Great point driven down a long windy road in a car going really really fast until bam! at the end. I'd like to think love and hope and non-violence will win out. If I don't believe that, I'll drive that fast car over the cliff.

De Jackson said...

Well done, Sir.

Unknown said...

"How can those horrible hordes
swords
of pious pugnacious patriots ever break out
shout
of the mucus-lined terrible trenches
stenches
of scintillating sonorous sorrow,
tomorrow"

Oh, this segment is just pure poetry!

lynn__ said...

Whoa, a visceral campaign rant for sure. Personally, i'd rather have Sarah govern than grant Sanders sainthood but a hearty "AMEN" to your final 3 lines, Glenn!

Unknown said...

way too much hatred in this world...that last haiku really summarized the rest of your piece. Amen to a world where love outranks hatred!!