Political Poetry-The Lecture Part I
Who was it that said?
“Every country has a government that it deserves”
Or something to that effect.
Especially, if we have elected the people that ran it.
I must add.
Bear with me.
Did God create man, or money did?
Who is God? A Multinational Corporation?
Or is it a CEO, that gets paid a thousand times,
More than his employees: the workers,
That actually produce,
Everything that is of any consequence,
Or may be, it is a superpower,
Armed with missiles and nuclear,
Armaments, that are precision laser guided,
Of course, with some collateral damage.
Professor, could you please define collateral?
It is like, Concomitant, accompaniment, enhancement,
And also enrichment.
Is that like being enriched by experience?
Reading Twain, or Doestoevsky,
Will give us the same type of enrichment, I suppose.
I hate sarcastic students,
It is a blessing sometimes,
To have the unquestioning minds,
Like the majority in our society,
That is cowed from questioning why?
Whose duty has become, to jump at the whims,
Of the master’s orders, to catchy phrases,
But, I am not blessed by such a fortune,
I am asked to discuss the constitution,
The founding fathers and their contribution,
To the creation of such an envied,
Democratic system.
Alas! Negroes are three-fifths human,
Oh! No voting rights for women,
Even white men must own properties,
That was the predetermination,
To cast their votes,
To elect their representatives,
So was written in the constitution.
In the year two thousand and six
How do we fare?
Affirmative action is upheld,
By the Supreme Court, which stated,
That it is o.k. to enroll women, Latinos,
African and Native Americans,
In our universities,
A law that should remain in the books,
For the next twenty-five years,
When the law, presumably,
Becomes totally unnecessary,
Because, the U.S. will become a color-blind society.
Who are strict constructionist?
Those who
Believe the constitution to be dead, lifeless.
Those who believe the constitution,
To be a living document,
Accept it to be good, but not perfect,
So, needed adjustments here and there, won’t hurt.
For the strict constructionists,
It is like the song “how low can you go”?
How far back do you want to go?
That is the central question.
Let’s move forward.
This smart-alec student of mine,
Whose mission in life,
Is not to challenge, but to upset me,
Asks, what is the difference between,
Underdeveloped and developing nations?
Even though, I hate digression,
I shall rise to the occasion,
And reply in the same vain.
It is like saying Negro, black or African American.
Time is of the essence, Let’s move on.
Hey, Prof. Are we being sarcastic, again?
Oh. No! I am neither sarcastic nor cynical,
Only a realist.
But Bukowski was all three.
Professor Mekonen Haddis
Capital Ground
Now is the shared time
Of our last riches
To each birth
Freedom
A drop of water
Thirsty of river
To each birth
Equality
A drop of sweat
Exhausted of misery
To each birth
Fraternity
A drop of air
Dirty of deserts
Now is the exorcised time
Of our planetary reasons
The articulated time
Of a capital
Ground.
Mr.Anick Roschi 3.3.09