issue68onthefence

                                   ZYGOTE IN MY COFFEE.COM

***BIO*** Richard Krech: I am older and hopefully wiser than before. Here are some relevant links:
http://www.verdantpress.com/krech.html

http://www.wvu.edu/~lawfac/jelkins/lp-2001/krech.html

http://www.guerillapoetics.org/poets/index.php?ShowMember=22

Home

Submit

On The Fence

by Richard Krech

Government lawyers
in starched button down collars,
manicured fingers
on soft hands
that never did manual labor.

These "suits"
attempting to justify torture,
the Bush legacy
at the beginning
of a new century.

The greatness and beauty
of America
bespoiled by these
"neocon" politicians
at the center of power.

The dilution of your rights
under our Constitution
as the government
"your government"
intrudes ever deeper
into the very personal
papers and effects
once protected by the great charter.

The destruction
of our natural resources
as the Interior Department
sells out our forests
to the logging industry, the
oil industry, the large
contributors to the Republican Party.

Death and destruction of a country
inflicted on the people of Iraq
by the unjust war
brought on by our President
based on lies
and dreams of global
control of the oil supply.

[and dreams of control of more
than the oil supply]

Grandiose references
to battling "evil"
to embaking on a "new crusade"
The many attempts
to push our country
towards a theocracy. The contempt
for true individual liberty.

The vision of America
as a light of freedom
helping those living under tyranny,
has become
a reality of America
as a bringer of fire and destruction.
An Iraq more vicious
and dangerous than ever it was
under Saddam Hussain,
while our puppets huddle and debate
under tight security
in Baghdad and Kabul.

America’s support for dictators
in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
and our State Department
calling elected leaders in Bolivia
and Venezuela "dictators"
turns truth on its head and becomes
the big lie
not believed by its speakers.

I have seen kind,
conservative, religious people duped
by the political consultants’ skillful use
of religious reference and compassionate
sounding rationales for harsh,
repressive, harmful actions.

I see a nation uncertain.
Justifiably fearing a deadly enemy
we turned to a bully
who felt it was necessary
to inflict massive damage
on someone
when the Taliban regime
and al Qaeda folded so quickly
into the night and stole away.

Now seeing the sorry results
of senselessly attacking the wrong target
we are afraid of being seen
as cowards, yet learning
that the wise course of action
may be to stop marching
in the wrong direction.

How long my country sits on the fence
trying to decide
whether to risk the destruction
of the world in order to save face
will say a great deal
about our world role in the future.

America,
there are those in power
who are trying to turn us
into our enemy:
theocratic, disdainful
of individual rights,
torturous.

America,
do not become your enemy.

Oct. 2006