The dream offers neither house
nor temple in which to hide
the castle is under siege
bodies and memories are disinterred
death is stinking upwards from the core
everywhere brittle shards of inelegant desire
the moving in of nightmare tongues
the moving out of vision
the first and last casualties of war.
II
I am three sheets to the wind
over Nagasaki and Hiroshima
drunk over Vietnam
killing the farmer on his bellows pump
a willing foot soldier carting Wal-Mart
issue out of China
now counting dead Jews in Warsaw
climbing a Nazi tank trap outside Moscow
fantasizing that every male Bavarian
is my killer in the London Blitz
scratching booze-fed Budapest to find
gypsies in the cross hairs
buying a kamikaze phone card
at the Yakasumi shrine in Tokyo
hearing a literal Christ at 30,000 feet
an evangelical from New Zealand
following him through the temple
rubble that became his Church in Mexico
walking with him and the Jesuits
over the backs of Brazilian Indians
stopping at the Forbidden City in Beijing
for prayer and incense
sponsored by American Express
listening to my friends swear
that the original man came from China
returning home to discover
62% of Americans know
dinosaurs roamed the Garden of Eden
71% believe in the Virgin Birth
finally retreating to the sky-high altar
of burnt cow carcasses in southern England
mad cow culture all over again
testament to what we have become.
III
I cannot hide from my global shadow
I cannot hide from the god-fearing
righteous shadow that has descended on America
for the pews are loudly singing
Onward Christian Soldiers
that high-octane, mesmerizing chant
camouflaging the down-market cultural
drip put daily in our veins
Red China's revenge
for a half-century of Readers Digest moments
Wordsworth's wasting and spending in spades
and the government drapes nude statues
sees violence in television flesh
polices the language of war on the screen
keeping thousands in communicado
thumping the terror drum
everyone a terrorist
the anti-war, pro-choice, non-church going
crowds are terrorists
the cartoon characters who frolic with gays--terrorists
teachers who teach evolution are terrorists
those who question the government are terrorists
Americna who don't consume are terrorists
due process a terrorist
judges who pull feeding tubes are terrorists
everything "not them" is framed in terrorist cant
Boundaries lost, language lost
soulfulness lost, consciousness
stripped of majesty
subtleties driven underground.
IV
And the innocent keep their eyes peeled to the sky
looking through a color-coded maze
unaware that the governing tribe
wants them to continue this dance of terror
dead-scared puppets on a string
so they won't see the next apocalypse
of god, piety, and the flag
a perfect marriage of the gun and the cross
Constantine all over again
national hubris leaking into space
Blake's Tiger now pure aggression
The Second Coming, the Big Bang
Deep in the American heart.