Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Bird With Two Right Wings


And now our government
a bird with two right wings
flies on from zone to zone
while we go on having our little fun & games
at each election
as if it really mattered who the pilot is
of Air Force One
(They're interchangeable, stupid!)
While this bird with two right wings
flies right on with its corporate flight crew
And this year its the Great Movie Cowboy in the cockpit
And next year its the great Bush pilot
And now its the Chameleon Kid
and he keeps changing the logo on his captains cap
and now its a donkey and now an elephant
and now some kind of donkephant
And now we recognize two of the crew
who took out a contract on America
and one is a certain gringo wretch
who's busy monkeywrenching
crucial parts of the engine
and its life-support systems
and they got a big fat hose
to siphon off the fuel to privatized tanks
And all the while we just sit there
in the passenger seats
without parachutes
listening to all the news that's fit to air
over the one-way PA system
about how the contract on America
is really good for us etcetera
As all the while the plane lumbers on
into its postmodern
manifest destiny

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

2 comments:

e b bortz said...

“I Don’t Know What I’d Do, If I Couldn’t Speak My Mind.”

London has Hyde Park Speakers Corner. Pittsburgh has 1410 Monterey Street.

On September 19th, from 11 am – 4 pm, on the half-hour, there will be free readings by Pittsburgh authors of all ages and backgrounds in front of 1410 Monterey St. (the former Manteca Bar). Stop by during the Mexican War Streets House Tour for a break. It is very informal—you can sit for a few m...inutes or stand. Bring friends and family!

1410 Monterey St. is the site of City of Asylum/Pittsburgh’s future Literary Center. It will include a bookstore, a writers café-bar-restaurant, and a space for literary readings. You are invited to see the building plans and to take a peak inside the Manteca. See what “before” looks like, when a house is rehabbed.

City of Asylum/Pittsburgh (http://www.cityofasylumpittsburgh.org/)
provides sanctuary to writers exiled under threat of persecution. In addition to the future Literary Center, it has rehabbed 4 houses on the 300 – 400 blocks of Sampsonia Way. Each has a colorful text-based artwork on the façade, which makes Sampsonia Way a great place for an interesting stroll.
******
(Earth Notes & other poems.....by e b bortz at 2:00 p.m.)
Will post full schedule when confirmed.

Sherry Pasquarello said...

hiya!