H e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s b e r g

N a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i v e s E d i t i o n

KEVIN HAYES

Because The System Is Closed

because the system is closed, only a radical intrusion from

outside will change it, so I dig a long tunnel intending to reach &

claim possession of our head of state’s office by subterranean means

that will remain secret even from the secret police. . . I finish the

tunnel underneath our head of state’s desk in the dead of night so that

no one will hear me when I break thru the floor & enter the office

waiting in my hole for our head of state to return to his office when the

morning comes. . .an exercise of patience enables me to demonstrate

enough self-restraint to resist the urge to go to his room & to

overthrow him while he is sleeping in his bed, an urge that if indulged,

will no doubt be frustrated since guards will inevitably capture me

before I reach my objective, so I realize my revolution will only be

successful if I remain hidden underneath his desk until his day

working at it begins since he will leave his guards outside the door

never suspecting that an enemy has already infiltrated his office. . .

our head of state is an early riser because the sustenance of his

iron tyranny over the nation is a big job so he finds it necessary to

begin exercising his authority as people are waking up in the morning

afraid that if he allows them even a moment to breathe free, they will

be tempted to mount a rebellion against him & he is especially eager

to arrive at his desk this morning since he will be signing an order

empowering his secret police to arrest & to execute the suspected

traitors their espionage work had identified. . . before our head of

state can sign the order he intends to sign, I leap out from my hiding

place beneath his desk & depose him from his position as our head of

state knocking him unconscious, tying him up with rope I have

brought, gagging his mouth & throwing him down in the hole I have

come from so that I can ignite a movement able to destroy the

government he had established as his instrument of oppression

without his interference since he will be unable to make a sound or

climb up out of the hole when he wakes up. . . imitating our head

of state’s voice, I pick up the phone & call an assistant telling him to

contact all the television stations because I want to address the nation

live in an hour & the assistant immediately does exactly what I have

asked never suspecting that I am not our head of state since my

imitation of his voice has been perfect. . . while the assistant follows

my directive making the arrangements I require, I stand in front of a

mirror inside the office scrupulously disguising myself as our head of

state doing the job with so much care & skill that even his own

mother will think that I am he needing to pass myself off as our head

of state so that I can mount a secret revolution seizing the reigns of

government & transfiguring the nation preparing to announce over all

the television networks that I have discovered & disbanded a faction

of secret police who had been formed to arrest & execute citizens

without our knowledge using the occasion to announce my

determination to return the country to its ideal of personal liberty. . .

[Originally published in NHS 2006, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs06/Hayes.htm.]