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THE BLOODY CORPSE
As he retired, Washington warned us about factions?.
He thought of his already divided and contentious cabinet:
so the dream he had been repeatedly having of a bloody corpse,
was the US, dismembered at the foot of a dictator.

God, who had given this man twin gifts, grace and greatness,
was reminded of his only son, Jesus; but, a gapping pit opened up
and among the smoke and flames rose a George of a different stamp:
victor, the smug self-proclaimed tyrant raised himself higher.

Stepping from the black depths of perdition, was seen
a vacuous middle aged man who was malevolently smirking,
at horrible gore stained Victory,
holding out his bloody hands to Christ on his cross.

Both camps were struck with the brutal paradox
One?s blood poured forth nourishing the earth,
while the other ravaged and exploited to heaven
all the gracious gifts of God.

       THE EAGLE
When the darkness of our day arrived
such regal visions tempted this puppet
as raised him apart
from his nuptial chambers,
to jet, sleep steel-skinned,
the singular skies,
while she, neglected mate,
must wait, among the empty dessert hours
with her vacant stare at the lying vacuous T.V. screen,
random reflections snake between twisted sheets;
she wonders where his forked tongue
is twisting it?s cursed course
flickering into his bunker skull,
bungling its duplicitous script of worn words,
tangled beneath the iniquitous inquisitors?
taloned fingers, whose slithering shadows
attempt to cage all the myriad forms
attempting to wing away
among the cell-phoned, moon-plumed throngs;
so its come to this at last
with unnatural and rapacious appetites,
they incessantly flay with rage
trying to devour the blind birds with locked lids,
pecking out their eyeballs
they consume everything, enterprises and estates,
even poverty stricken homes
all that belongs to others
right down to the last morsel of their victims? hearts.
Through out the long day?s blackness
with red stained beaks they peck
waiting for the heavy hand
to toss them their final scraps of bloody flesh,
as fowl-racketing dusk descends,
and their dark-yolk-hoods are replaced,
and the world is plunged into night.

   THE WILLAMETTE?S 1ST
          WAR FATALITY
By your banks, my Willamette,
I hear your strong peaceful current;
it quietly recalls to its sorrow
a dream-feathered wing, carelessly disguarded.

Climbing softly up the shore,
worn out from playing children?s games
with woodland deities,
a beautiful youthful body:

his pliant face,
imprinted on a bed of mud,
the variable light transforming
its swollen mutable features.

Bent above its dark visceral grume,
he re-experiences each stage of development;
until, he knows once more,
death endured in nuptial fertility.

Lord, why must we suffer the travail
that this most recent changing tide of blood brings?
Recycle, the vanity of things of the flesh,
Under night?s swirling surge of stars.

Laugh ironically, if you must,
at the infinite fertility found in each seed,
in each row, in each ear of corn;
and, wonder at the beauty of life?s terrible symmetry.

We?re all born to descend
into eternity?s indifferent oblivion.
He lies resting beneath the cool, green grass;
the father, the son, and now the holy ghost.

Gentle, happy, little animals
their ears absorb every soft night sound,
their nostrils fill with each passing fragrant breeze,
and their eyes dilate to perceive the evening air:
                                                          while we inhale life?s precious dream.

       A SKETCH
A squad of kids scales the hill and sends
their volley challenge to the April skies.
?Hurray!? ?We made it!?
Its serious business they?re about today.
They intend to attack high heaven.
It lies so tantalizingly close.
Just through the palsied, thin, limbed trees
that are sprouting out
with little translucent leaves.

See how heavily the blue presses down,
on the long blades of cool green grass.
The friendly breeze carries music,
from some ones car radio, carefree and happy.
Its so good to be alive.
And, where do they go from here?
Their bright and shining faces, all starry eyed,
over the hill and down through the valley
along paths carpeted pink and white with cherry petals,
the field trip proceeds through the orchard on the other side.
They banter, and bicker, and sing,
and soar among the cherry blossoms,
until they are heard no more.

But, what became of our shock troop children?
They are all silently gathered together,
gazing in rapt wonder:
at the two new born hairless squirrels
freshly fallen from the tree.
Safe for now, Heaven is granted a reprieve.

SING JOYOUS PRAISE
Nothing will change my mind?s definite belief
that to catch a ride and fly drifting on clouds overhead
is harmless fun and nothing whatever to dread.

Is it the breath taking beauty, unfolding and unfettered,
as expansive as the sky; or, is it the wonderful way
an ordinary scene transforms, before one?s eye,
into something extraordinary, something sublime.

Is it the lyrical sounds so incredibly pretty
that they become a tone poem flowing through the sinews of the city;
or, is it when in the soft shade of the park blocks, beneath the towering deciduous trees,
the clear chime of church bells toll off the fleet footed hours.

Because, this truth is firmly rooted in my soul:
God placed us here to love and be happy:
And the pleasure of floating near God in Heaven,
Is one that?s most holy, full of inner peace and spontaneous joy.

And because, all God?s gracious gifts are given as part of the Lord?s love,
to be enjoyed as something infinitely precious,
before we return to Him,
and spend eternity on oblivion?s shore.

   A BODY?S REPLY
A fiery red sunset turns ash gray,
leaving a pale blue residue covering the clouds;
and my body painfully responding,
to being buried alive with rust coating its soul.

My aching body answers
From the depth of the nothing that is today?s grave
That was busily being shoveled by others
For me out of thin air. even before I was aware.
Lost to these wielders of living death,
leading in spades,
Whose granite hearts serve as our tombstones
Is the realization -

Central to this thing called existence
Is love, a treasure found buried deep in our hearts.
Now, love comes in many forms.
I love:

The musical sound of children?s laughter,
Or, the chill-feel of a clear stream
Flowing through a flower strewn meadow
After storming a ridge on a hot afternoon;

And, I love you
When I caress your soft woman?s curves
With my eyes, my love for you
Makes me soar higher than the moon.

My love hungers
for all the myriad of things of life
its joys and its sorrows;
and its many varied pleasures.

I?ll gladly assume responsibility
And pay for any damage done,
Taken as it should with the price of my soul:
That is what being a man means.

But, I will not willingly pay for other?s mistakes and/or slander:
I will stand up for what I believe,
Even if it means my death and destruction -
Because ultimately we must all settle the account with God.

       STARS
The glade opened wide its expansive gate
And through, in puissant steel, Midnight and his entourage regally rides
At the magnificent sight the Moon slows its stately route
The gracious glorious glistening rivers stretch their limbs,
The clouds pause beautifully beneath the bright beams,
Waving their streaming banners beneath the indigo dome

       TRIBUTE
100 years from today your disturbing book of prose
will be read and respected by scholars and savants,
a sublime book of survival, a powerful statement about humanity
that will trouble the thoughtful individuals of the universities.

But my little volume of verse that I dedicate to you
will suffer the same fate as the silent majority,
after having entertained society for perhaps one brief moment,
which are distracted so easily by so little.

Then, if a bibliophile decides to exhume
this buried in dust study of obsolescence,
they will read a literary reference to your illustrious work,
which will not have saved mine from oblivion.

Their curiosity will not have spared
the fragile rights and poor persecuted souls
that these electric grids will have transferred
from their parchment prisons.

And this obscure discovery
will be as precious for them as for us,
of some past chapter, or a foot note in Gothic script,
emblazoned with a Pegasus, guarded by a serpent.

WHEN WAS IT
When was it we floated on the cool green grass
   ?Oh, in another world.?
We agreed to share time, to live together,
   ?To be as one with the other.?

What was your favorite flower, the rose?
   ?Lily of the valley, or lilac.?
And do you have any photos to show what you looked like?
   ?A flat two dimensional grid.?

What is the difference.
?Between a flower and a weed??
You looked at me with your laughing eyes.
   ?That?s the question isn?t it??

We were so incredibly happy, stashed away,
   ?transformed into a cloud,?
Till undercover a malevolent church tower
   ?unctuously looked.?

All right temple whores! You may listen and spy,
   ??till the Fourth Reich arrives,?
and count our kisses and caresses. What do I care.
   ?Why? They?re plain dumb.?

They cover their faces with their hands
   ?And can only tell time
Besides, they?re all digital
   ?anyway, they?ve already sold us.?

And as the toll grows steadily higher,
   ?We kept our faith, and with warm hearts touched by grace,?
at the tower we danced and played,
   ?and began singing songs that told the truth.?

And, for a change, we became very polite,
   ?but kept them at arms length,?
If any one disagrees with it,
?we don?t see how.?

Full of mystery and magic, we were driven
   ?from that Heaven of green,?
pursued by the dark concrete tower,
   ?that was aghast at some of what it had seen.?

Anarchy is loose! Brain police, come quick!
   ?Proof against their shame and sin?
Two lovers have set explosives off,
   ?in the city, suburbs and country!?

Such a shocking horrible crime I saw.
   ?It made me sick.?
The immoral acts I saw was against all law.
   ?The great shield that protects us all?

My cheeks were burning, when at last we learned-
   ?May lightening strike them, the sneaky cowards,?
as only their due, the filthy stuff the phony religious smugly engaged in,
   ?and blamed on other people, too.?

But, now the world is learning.
   ?What has been happening and how it all fell out.?
We?ll come closer together for all that
?and relearn the lessons of democracy, too.?

Lessons on Civil Rights, equality and liberty;
   ?and, do so in God we trust.?
Pursuing not each other,
   ?but happiness.?

           RUMOR MILL

         The following is the belief of the Rumor Mill.

The bloody battles have completed the carnage of war. Soldiers and civilians on both sides have made several sacrifices including the ultimate one for their countries. It is fitting that now we should pause and rationally reflect over the course of events that we have recently witnessed, and learn what lessons we can from them, so that our citizens? sacrifices will not have been made in vain.
   The Republican lead United States government made three separate claims for what motivated them to start the war and attack Iraq. First, they claimed that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.   A claim not substantiated by any of the on site inspections conducted by independent U.N. inspectors. Also, it should be noted that a combination of examining the invoices for the U.S. weapons (previous Republican administrations were the ally responsible for arming Iraq, both before and after the first phony Iraq war, which occurred during Bush Sr. failed attempt for re-election) shipments, in the pre arms embargo era, coupled with modern U.S. satellite surveillance capabilities and on site U.N. inspections would have cost effectively resolved this phantom fear. Second, we were told that Saddam Hussein was responsible for assisting the Sept. 11 terrorist attack (see previous issues essays on this subject) on the World Trade Center. It was later revealed, on the Senate floor, that the documents used for this fraudulent claim were phony. If it is true that Iraq helped the terrorists, then, the wasteful U.S. war against the Afghanistan Taliban tribe, which lasted for two years and didn?t accomplish anything but significantly increase the U.S. national debt, was fought for nothing. It placed the Republican administration in the unenviable position of appearing to have been less than truthful with the U.S. citizens, either before, or now, or both. Third, the final absurd Republican claim for the cause of the war was that they were trying to re-establish democracy in Iraq, by militarily deposing a democratic government that had become odious to them. An interesting position when one considers that the Republicans were using military intervention to oust by force a duly elected government. Also, one should realize that Bush Jr. has never been ?elected? by a majority of U.S. voters, and was fighting a very unpopular war, which was supposedly to establish democracy. The real reason for the premeditated U.S. assault on Iraq is thought to be the continued control of Iraq oil and natural gas revenues by the factional interests of the radical right, while continuing to pump public revenues into their bank accounts during a depression caused and continued by failed Republican economic policies; and to increase the U.S. national debt, which not only distracts the public from their economic plight but will let the REPUBLICANS indirectly attack U.S. entitlement (Social Security & Medicare & Medicaid) programs.
   The U.N. failed to support Republican led U.S. intervention measures in Iraq. It was correct that with only one exception England (the people of England overwhelmingly opposed Blair?s position on U.S. military adventurism) the entire Security Council should oppose this war. It was gratifying to see integrity prevail over base self interest, when almost unanimously the nations of the Security Council, in spite of massive bribes in the form of offered foreign aid, rejected U.S. pressure and voted in favor of free will and a nation?s right of self determination. And, it should be recognized that the position of the Security Council against the Republican?s interventionist war policy was shared by an overwhelming majority of the members of the general assembly. The action taken by the Security Council, to reject the Republican led U.S. position for military intervention into the internal affairs of an independent nation, has enhanced the U.N.?s prestige and influence around the world.
   The Republican lead government has conquered Iraq and is establishing their government there. These two acts, one an overt aggressive act, and the other an obvious transgression of justice are both superfluous. The Republican Bush Jr. administration tells us that they want to re-establish democracy in Iraq. But, when they throw out an elected ruler for no creditable reason other than he was unacceptable to them. And, proceed to militarily occupy the country and arrest civilian political figures, like an ambassador to Tunisia and the honestly elected mayor of the nation?s largest city Baghdad; then, what is occurring is quite the opposite from democracy. It is the systematic removal of unacceptable politically active individuals, and the replacement of them with individuals who are corruptible and acceptable to the U.S. Republicans. It is the same pattern of manipulation in another country that transpired in Russia after the collapse of communism, which resulted in such a disaster that Russia eventually became the economic basket case of the Western World; and, subsequently led to the U.S. and World Bank aid to Russia and the profits from Russia?s natural resources disappearing. It is claimed by some that they eventually ended up in investments that exclusively benefited certain U.S. right wing economic factions politically active in the U.S. today.
   Today, we the people of the United States of America have an opportunity to right a wrong. It is necessary, because nations even more than individuals have insecure consciences, that we should act to secure ourselves against the mistakes, weaknesses and corruption which too often accompany conflicts and which even more often follow victory. If we neglect the fate of Iraq?s citizens then we will have created further victims. We will have violated a sacred trust with all those soldiers and civilians on both sides, whose sacrifices will have been in vain; because of our failure to act to protect a people, who should have the same rights as any other. And, we will be undermining the democracy we were supposedly fighting to establish, at a price in excess of $75 billion. It is the right of all Iraq citizens, and not just the corrupt and useful to Republican factional interests, to participate in forming a government. And, how can the United States of America, ?one nation under God? state that another country must separate church and state, because it?s expedient to the factional interests of the radical right? It might be that such a separation is beneficial to a political entity like a nation/state, and I believe history in the West has substantiated the beneficence of that belief; but, the issue of whether it is correct for one nation like the U.S. to superimpose its values on a country from another cultural background, like the Shiite Muslims, is a more fundamental and subsequently more important concern. It is in certain respects more tragic and more pitiful that the United States, the world?s oldest Democracy, should be the party usurping another people?s rights. Iraq is being denied the opportunity to choose between oppression and democracy, while the U.S. is being forced down a path of dishonor and disgrace.
   These successive acts of injustice, which are the most shameful, recorded in our country?s long and illustrious history, depriving a people of the glory of the freedom of choice which we would have made at any time in our past and which sustains us to this day. It would be too unjust, if we were to become the author of such an iniquity, which this time would be inexpiable. Regardless, of other questions we are at the present moment concerned with the question of justice. Iraq even though vanquished is our equal. If we do not treat her with justice then we will be responsible for one of the greatest crimes in recent history, by preventing her from realizing the very democracy that we claimed to have set out to establish, but in fact have over come. It is time for the US to repair the iniquity it is responsible for, and to live up to the promise inherent in the pledge of allegiance to our Constitution and that ends, ?with liberty and justice for all.?