((long memory))

until the friction
of matriculation
in the School
of the Americas
no longer rubs
raw
global democracy
be vigilantly
buttressed against
this stateside cult
of forgetfulness

though you are
admonished
with mantras
of profound
disbelief
and our particular
good intentions

((remind yourself))

that Big Stick
diplomacy
has not ever
succeeded
in securing peace
where it now
swats away

((democratic sovereignty))

like kitchen full
with flies
to float its ego
on stabilizing
the insect problem
though refusing
to open a window

((calloused hands))

malcontents may
make news
but history is held
steadfastly in the grasp
of those
dissatisfied to
leave their best ideas
to wither
about the vines

be wedded
to the reality
that if the man
with a hammer
meets the man
with a nail
they are unlikely
to ever be
lacking work

((curious skepticism))

beware the patriotic
whisper
where language
lilts and dances
draped in a cloth
of stars and stripes

when it cites “CISPA”
return “censorship”
call “enhanced interrogation”
by its birth name “torture”
no tepid
“jurisdictional transfer”
in the face of
“extraordinary rendition”

be no more
compelled to render
invisible victims
those deemed
unworthy
of journalistic
attention

make plain crimes
and consequences
when all are made
unmentionable
in polite company

((cause fuck chivalry))

when the world is burning.

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