Bombs go off right across the world
from where I live, among a people who
look like me. This is news because
they are not at war — or at least,
not very much — & because they look
just like me. Meanwhile in America
we are blowing up mountains
& burning their black hearts to keep cool.
Meanwhile in America we are setting off
three & a half million pounds of explosives
every day in this undeclared war
against ourselves. This is not news because
it happens every day & is therefore
nothing new; because there is no easy-
to-tar enemy except perhaps for
the black-hearted mountains;
& because the people who die from it
die slowly & unspectacularly,
& are too often guilty of being poor.
Meanwhile in America it is hot
& getting hotter, & this is news
because it keeps us indoors, glued
to the news or at least to the sweat-
sticky couch. Meanwhile in America
the news anchors make a show
of indignation at the sun, righteous
& well-coiffed as fallen angels, &
never speculate about why we might
really be so hot, never mention
that we are blowing up mountains
& burning their black hearts to keep cool.
*
Note: I don’t mean to minimize the horror of the events in Norway, which now seem actually to be more about the massacre on the island than the initial bomb blasts. Every violent death, especially the death of a child, is a tragedy regardless of where in the world it happens — even schoolchildren in Appalachia who get brain tumors from having the misfortune of living too close to coal processing plants.
OTHER POSTS IN THE SERIES
- Passage to Exile
- Sacred Teachings of the Ancient Victorians
- Hedera helix
- Boneyard Dogs
- Import/Export
- Mutiny
- In Loving Memory
- One for Sorrow, Two for Joy
- Horror Fictions
- Extremophile
- Curating the Dead
- Artifactual
- Among the Brambles
- Heat Indices
- Grief Bacon
- If there were such things as ghosts
- The life of the body
- The Angel of Confession
- Ghost-writing
- Death Angels
Very nice. The heat/cold juxtapositions are very, ah, cool.
Lovely piece, Dave.
Thanks, guys. This was going to be a straight rant — that’s how I drafted it — but in the end it formed itself into poetic lines anyway.
Great rant on a subject dear to my heart.
Sad and painful, isn’t, Dave? A good look at our Heat Indices. Powerful.
I think it was the deliberation of the Kindermord that made it news, for me. And I’d always located Norway outside of the real world: it was the home I would go home to when everything else was ruined. But of course I’ll never go to Norway, and no place is outside.
We continue to evolve toward extinction. It does appear to be a marked trait in the human race (socially, if not individually, that is).
What a picture you paint for us, Dave. Sadly – painted with the brush of truth.
Nice! Has a villanelle-esque feel to it.
Incisive, cuts really deep.
Dave,
My response to your Heat Indices is my “Ranting in America”. See:
http://albertbcasuga.blogspot.com/2011/07/ranting-in-america.html
Ah Dave, you execute those repetitions so well, ringing the changes and driving the rhythms. Always deft as a conjuror, only with words, not cards!
I love your poem–great images, great juxtapositions!
Thanks, all, for the kind words and responses. This is not one of my personal favorites — I’m just not crazy about either the overall lack of subtlety or the ending — but I’m glad it struck a chord with so many of you. And I do hope you’ll also read Luisa’s latest poem, which is at least twice as good as this!
Wow. I think I like this one precisely for its directness.
I liked the image of burning the black hearts of the mountains.
I love this poem. Not only do we get this juxtaposition of two horrors, which inspired a fine newly minted poem by Albert, but there is this line about the happy Cassandra’s of the weather airways who have been almost gleeful about each new prediction. “righteous
& well-coiffed as fallen angels,” Perfect! Thank you Dave.
Very nicely done.
You people are incorrigible. :) It occurred to me, though, that this poem would probably make damn fine song lyrics in the right hands.
(Anyone know Ani DiFranco? She writes her own songs though, I think.)
I was thinking it could make a good punk song.
That would be even cooler! (I’m an old thrash-metalhead, but I like punk, too.)
Hey, I grew up on metal too (don’t know if you saw my recent “Maiden & Priest” post) but fell in love with punk/hc in high school.
Yeah, I was gonna comment, but I was so appalled that you’d leave metal just as it was starting to get good, that I couldn’t think of anything to say. :) I mean, yes, Maiden and Priest still sound good, but so do Sepultura, Slayer, Pantera, Vio-lence, Entombed, Morbid Angel…
We could always start a band, should the poetry thing stop working for any of us. We just need 3 chords, right–we’ve got the truth in Dave’s poem. Maybe we don’t even need 3 chords–wasn’t it Woody Guthrie who said that anyone who needed more than 2 chords was showing off?
How hard can it be to learn 2 chords? I have guitars–and mandolins. A punk band with mandolins and a dulcimer–which fits the strip mining theme nicely too!
Agreed about the two chords (and the cousinship of true folk and punk rock), but don’t kid yourself — that bluegrass stuff is tricky! I know several banjo players we might be able to recruit, however. I’ve always sort of fantasized about an all-banjo punk band.