Smackdown

painting by georgia o'keefe

Smackdown

“I had not removed my clothes for a year except

to stick a needle every hour in the fibrous wooden

flesh of heroin addiction.”---William S. Burroughs

It is standing alone,

that stately red poppy midst a sea of white tide.

It is standing alone,

proud pariah, rugged, conspicuous roan,

white tiger in a pride

of orange stripes, not trying to hide.

It is standing alone.

Opium is its gift

to the farmers, to the smugglers, to the addicts.

Opium is its gift.

It is an ancient crop, harvested by swift

hands to become a fix,

to wreak havoc, to morph into heroin bricks.

Opium is its gift. 

So who are we to blame?

Human nature, addiction, criminal drug lords?

So who are we to blame?

Genetic weakness, opportunity, the fame;

those terrible swift swords

of bliss, of orgasm, of high flights--drug pushing hordes?

So who are we to blame?

Glenn Buttkus

June 2013

Posted over on dVerse Poets FFA

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