Larry Piltz :
VERSE | TRUE HOMELAND

American Bird of Prey by DonkeyHotey / Flickr.

TRUE HOMELAND

Why is this sweet world we live in
so torn between chaos and Zen
with extremes at either end
like enemies and lifelong friends
starvation and stock dividends
a young child’s death yet love transcends
are we really blowing in these winds
with not that much on which to depend
can we compromise in a scale of ten
must our safe place be a lion’s den
and our safe word something to defend
must we wait around for the worst to begin
if peace breaks out don’t we all win
there’s a lot to learn if we don’t pretend
that chaos comes from some original sin
what starts the wars again and again
who stands to gain from this which men
they must not care we all are kin
nor care about the shape we’re in

It’s hardly any mystery
what’s up with all our history
I prefer a herstory
to bring about the best in we
much more than just a cursory
retelling from the nursery
but a story shared with honesty
and fearlessness to help us see
that greed’s a type of sorcery
that mainly creates enemies

I’m not immune to tempting fate
and hope I’m not unfascistically late
to point out what I think is great
it’s surely not resentment hate
exclusion some poor scapegoat’s fate
instead we need to congregate
just inside an open gate
and share this world this very date

There’s more than enough to go around
enough to make the world resound
with gratitude while love compounds
on openminded common grounds
employing hearts and minds unbound
many reclaimed from lost and found
this will bring a great reknown
a kind and generous rebound

Great wealth’s goal is control and power
not to share but to hoard and glower
if you dare ask more per hour
and think for yourself and forget to cower
Regard the daisy be a flower
be pretty and sweet and don’t be sour
you look so nice from my golden tower
say how’s that trickledown cold shower

And you’d better keep a smile
or be called disloyal and hostile
so be a threat not servile
give an inch take a mile
let’s work our magic break the dial
be the resistance go mobile
and see it through with grit and style
though wealth reacts with gall and guile

It’s not us seeking out to blame
there’s someone seeking to defame
and bully good folks with his shame
and forcing a vile hatred game
and doing it in your good name

Who’s this bully this mark of Cain
is he a Christ a king to reign
he’s the one who truly loves your pain
and craves your loss ‘cause it’s his gain

The bully lives high above the laws
he commands the heights and admits no flaws
challenge him you’ll know his claws
his wealth and fame are his one true cause

It’s the bully’s con and you’re the mark
his thrill to keep you in the dark
to him we’re servants on his ark
to the new world of The Patriarch
a world of wars and oligarchs
a world of madness cruel and stark
for his own sake The Patriarch
keeps our sweet world his private park

The bully is who starts the wars
you fight to the death that’s what we’re for
there’s always violence in store
cause bully needs a little more

Welcome to the USA Patriarch Act & Panic Attack
with spying dying and lying to your face and behind your back
it’s a crackdown smackdown trackdown and meltdown
I’m indicted with fiction though punished in fact
by death or internment in or deporting from my homeland

Does your brain contain some interesting thought
from a book you checked out maybe read or bought
or from some nice tune you were humming or sought
that’s the heinous crime that’ll get you caught
in the web of the worldwide homeland

Well your mind is free but what a twist
it lands you smack on that guest list
now rest assured you will be missed
when you get out of line in the homeland

Is speaking up a dangerous crime
say the thought and do hard time
then parable and verse and rhyme
pardon my grammar and my paradigm

Please just threaten me with jail
or make me watch you hurt a whale
so that I’ll let you read my personal mail
watch the law go postal when justice fails

Better keep your faith cause you’ll lose your trust
think how you’ll feel right during your bust
you’ll swear the law’s moved beyond natural disgust
as it reads you its rights and insists on your trust

Who might it be who turns you in
your neighbor mother ruh roh my friend
is paranoia now a sin
the paranoids are still after me again

The love of truth it is your code
until persuaded to implode
your confession due to electrode
oh that will be quite the shock to the homeland

What is the thing you don’t want to hear
on that midnight ride we’re conditioned to fear
that you’re queer or some other phobic jeer
from our macho police in their bondage gear

Are you perplexed this very night
deciding between flee and flight
methinks the emperor’s wound too tight
a bully drunk with power’s our plight

In ancient Rome when it started a war
dictators were chosen for what was in store
our chosen dictator makes war on the poor
freezes free choice then comes back for more

Are our laws meant to constrict and besiege us
with crude ultimatums both vague and egregious
what’s this lesson someone’s so desperate to teach us
that freedom’s a threat and a reason to seize us

My nation has those recurring dreams
where it divides into various teams
first a moment of silence and then the screams
it’s winner take all in freedom’s purges and schemes

Then the winners buy states with their pocket change
then too many are shackled and memory’s estranged
and royal dynasties still become deranged
with headlines still shouting there’s nothing here strange

Now in the interest of my liberal press
I’d like to clear up this news media mess
by daring someone to please confess
rich conservatives own all the media good guess

So you’d better make that living will
and polish up your survival skill
certain preachers say there’s a time to kill
oh the thrills and the chills and whose blood will spill

Work on your table manners bub
you’re invited to the big country club
exclusive rights to that big hot tub
for the boiling in oil a la homeland

Oh say can you see the petroleum
and the rocket’s red glare crematorium
can you hear it above the delirium
as the Air Force bombs the stadium
oh how so proudly we’ve hailed
how advanced we’ve become
advanced like dementia
What homeland

Is this nation in the process of losing its mind
in compassion and sense is it lost years behind
does it yearn for respect only to find
instead the responses are given in kind

The patriaddicts aren’t like me
they wave the flag it proves they’re free
free to pay The Patriarch Fee
of whatever the Big Daddies say it should be
or else be labeled the enemy

Meanwhile the army’s exported all loaded and locked
as Marines and sailors wave bye to the dock
and the next of kin just stand there in shock
look Wars ‘R Us is issuing stock
buy yours now be the first on your block
no matter how deeply you and the homeland are in hock
and surprise the wars will come home knock knock
you’ll be caught between the hard place and a rock
and you’ll wonder how you could have believed all that crock

Propaganda’s foreplay fullspeed ahead damn the preposition
fight them there freedom’s march us or them target acquisition
army strong army of one be all you can be Operation Revision
Defend der Fatherland Homeland Security a slogan addition

it’s all bullying by bullshit psychological attrition
as the propagandists desperately avoid deposition
to question them they consider sedition
if you accuse them here comes your legal rendition
as martial law’s invoked to crucify opposition

I try to ignore all the militarist poseurs
sitting in armchairs safe from exposure
cheering the killer robot bulldozers
but it’s getting harder to keep my composure

It’s Blood Sacrifice ordered by our leaders all hustlers
bloodletting daily by these genocidal rustlers
slaughtering people in unjust wars
families towns and cities always starting with the poor

Herding people with unmanned missiles
spewing through the air like bloody thistles
if you listen you can hear the ghastly whistles
as we turn people into ghosts and gristle

We use alienating lethal ideology
zombie all-devouring technology
and treat our war criminals as prodigies
who determine their victims by symbology

Wars are our fatal fashion shows
designed by fascistissimos
with runways launching deadly blows
with the perennial theme of Nihilism’s Throes

We give cute violent names to our superweapon models
bombshells for the bloodlust which we coddle
so addictive I’ll be shocked if they’re not bottled
will we ever learn to pull back on that throttle

We worship our knockout sexy symbols
from pickup truck size to fits in a thimble
resist war culture and refuse to assemble
these future relics so dastardly nimble

The Predators Cobras Raptors Grim Reapers
Tomahawks Hellfires Harpoons Deep Sleepers
Stingers Crusaders Tridents Intruders
why not one named for Jeb Stuart Magruder
Avengers Black Knight Shockwave Javelins
rockets engineered for the bad guy travelin’
The Goodbye Weapon America’s Ray Gun
and I’m sure those last two are totally way fun
The Punisher Excalibur Dread Apache
and a gas that will make you throw up and die scratching
and remember Fat Man and the Little Boy
oh the nostalgia for some of our earlier toys
and the modern but milder Daisy Cutter
that cuts down a forest as if it’s hot butter

Screaming Eagle Strike Eagle Falcon Hornet
Viper Venom Growler The Disemboweler
Lulu Matador Honest John Ding Dong
Hound Dog Little Dog Little John Lance
Davy Crockett Condor Red Snow Red Beard
Blue Cat Blue Fox Blue Peacock Blue Slug
Blue Danube Blue Rosette Blue Water Blue Steel
Green Bamboo Green Cheese Green Flash Green Granite
Green Grass Indigo Hammer Violet Club Yellow Sun
Orange Herald Locust Fort Knox Hellcat
Bulldog Hercules Herky Bird Spectre
Puff the Magic Dragon Wolverine Snark Slugger
Priest Wolf Lynx Cougar Fox Buffalo
Stryker Guardian Angel Wrecker Spooky Spooky

We knowingly kill children with explosive clusters
no safety from them or the vile bunker busters
there’s hot uranium spread among the living and the dead
what kind of mutant strain dreams that up in their head
there can never be enough grieving and tears shed

All the stealth machines glorified in magazines
the fire and forgets without care or regrets
the carriers the Harriers the hurriers the worriers
the minders the blinders the screaming Sidewinders
the brawlers and crawlers the brutes and the stalkers
our own Imperial Walkers
the sieges famines and plagues
these leaders should be in The Hague
with their cheerleader militarist poseurs
how would that be for closure

If you truly believe in fair or free trade
the flow of ideas and the progress we’ve made
then tell me why the de facto blockade
of justice and peace with this homeland charade

If you truly believe in a spiritual love
as on high so below not the pushing and shove
then why not remove your fist from your glove
extending your palm as below so above

Let’s settle now this whole debate
don’t tell me who to love or hate
but quit living to discriminate
tolerance will keep us hopeful and great

So go ahead and raise my rent
blow my mind it has its bent
but when you come for the innocent
you’ve gone way too far dear homeland

Speaking of let’s lift up high our frosted mugs
our pharmaceuticals and whiskey jugs
and toast the victorious war against drugs
oh the euphoria homeland shrugs
now have another slug and give your homeland a hug

Let’s have our real party on democracy’s lawn
and celebrate each vote and each liberating dawn
all equal and free with no class lines drawn
no kings no queens no rook no pawns
won’t keep us in check ’cause it’s all hands on deck

Now we come together as one
through times hard and fun
with no injustice undone
yes our work’s just begun
and we don’t need a gun
no violence none
’cause under one common sun
all living things run
in the one common band
in our hearts through the land
this our truth our demand
our promise our stand
and democracy’s our plan
for our new homeland
for our True Homeland
everyone hand in hand
it’s our land

Larry Aaron Piltz / The Rag Blog
Copyright implied and sought
Creative Commons applies

[Larry Piltz is an Austin-based writer, poet, and musician.]

• Find more articles and poetry by Larry Piltz on The Rag Blog.]