a dictator

 

a dictator lives

in a den of wolves

and feeds them

with luscious parts

of his body

 

once they've got

the taste

he unleashes them

on their own country

 

which they chew up

with teeth knashing

ripping the heart

from every body

 

that refuses to hear his

doctrine scratched on

a sacred scroll

of death

 

*       *       *

 

8/31/02

 

 

the spy

 

they say he sees

everything

and won't say a word about it

 

can't buy him out

can't meet his price

can't find it

 

he walks around

an encyclopedia to himself

and no one knows him

 

he's never seen

he's invisible even

to himself

 

*       *       *

 

7/31/02

 

 

a chance vision

 

I saw Jesus Christ

walk into an army surplus store

and walk out with a helmet on his head

hoisting a pack over his shoulder

 

I asked him what was happening

and he threw me a leaflet

from some church

advocating war

 

he shook his head as he passed and

under his helmet I saw a crown of thorns

 

he's still suffering

no matter what religion

has him teaching their curriculum

 

*       *       *

 

9/17/02

 

 

the wisdom of water

 

I sought out the rocky streams

in the Cascades in Oregon

that water had life and

sustenance

that water kept on moving and

it seemed nothing could stop it

 

I'm a poet but only a joker

in comparison to that water

I don't have sacred wisdom in me

and the small pieces of any answer

I possess have the habit of standing still

and haunting me for holding it

 

*       *       *

 

9/17/02