The Day the Unforgivable Happened
“The truth is that we were so spiritually and morally bankrupt that we could not even see
some of those lines: we stepped over them blindly. Other times we saw the lines alright,
but we wanted to cross them… It wasn’t God who was dead. We were.”
Sheldon Wolin, Inverted Totalitarianism
How will they explain the end at the end?
The earth dead, a rock planet
Devoid of humankind.
How will they explain
That they put profit over people
At the expense of the earth?
How will they explain
That through their arrogance, greed, and corruption
They sacrificed their only home
To a universe indifferent to them?
How will they explain
They started wars in the name
Of democracy that withered
Under a cruel and barbaric
Authoritarian and neoliberal ideology?
When the end came
And travel beyond the solar system impossible
All they could say was
We didn’t know.
Tell Me
At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Franklin was queried as he left
Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation. In the notes of Dr. James McHenry,
one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention, a lady asked Dr. Franklin “Well Doctor
what have we got, a republic or a monarchy.” Franklin replied, “A republic . . . if you
can keep it.”
Tell me how the demented fascist authoritarian
In the White House became a graduate of
The Electoral College.
Tell me why the orange malignant abomination
Is doing everything he can
To turn the planet into a giant
Greenhouse Gas Chamber.
Tell me how the corrupt racist tinted tyrant
Has managed to escape punishment
For putting thousands of migrant
Children and families
In for profit concentration camps.
Tell me how the tiny-fingered tweeter
And Democrat centrist neoliberals
Can aid and abet neofascist, right-wing coups
In democratically elected countries
Like Venezuela, Bolivia, and Brazil.
Tell me what gives president bone-spurs,
Avoiding the draft five times,
The right to be president for life?
Tell me when does Congress
Become a rule of law again
Instead of a rule of men?
Victor Henry is the author of What They Wanted (FutureCycle Press). His poetry and prose poems have appeared in small press magazines, anthologies, and e-zines, such as Slipstream; The Paterson Literary Review; Red River Review, Homestead Review; Dead Snakes, Misfitmagazine, Monterey Poetry Review; In Between Hangovers; Winedrunksidewalk; Your One Phone Call; I Am Not a Silent Poet; Nobody Gets Off The Bus: The Viet Nam Generation Big Book; Vietnam War Poetry, among others. He is a retired reference librarian and lives in Marina, CA.
“The truth is that we were so spiritually and morally bankrupt that we could not even see
some of those lines: we stepped over them blindly. Other times we saw the lines alright,
but we wanted to cross them… It wasn’t God who was dead. We were.”
Sheldon Wolin, Inverted Totalitarianism
How will they explain the end at the end?
The earth dead, a rock planet
Devoid of humankind.
How will they explain
That they put profit over people
At the expense of the earth?
How will they explain
That through their arrogance, greed, and corruption
They sacrificed their only home
To a universe indifferent to them?
How will they explain
They started wars in the name
Of democracy that withered
Under a cruel and barbaric
Authoritarian and neoliberal ideology?
When the end came
And travel beyond the solar system impossible
All they could say was
We didn’t know.
Tell Me
At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Franklin was queried as he left
Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation. In the notes of Dr. James McHenry,
one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention, a lady asked Dr. Franklin “Well Doctor
what have we got, a republic or a monarchy.” Franklin replied, “A republic . . . if you
can keep it.”
Tell me how the demented fascist authoritarian
In the White House became a graduate of
The Electoral College.
Tell me why the orange malignant abomination
Is doing everything he can
To turn the planet into a giant
Greenhouse Gas Chamber.
Tell me how the corrupt racist tinted tyrant
Has managed to escape punishment
For putting thousands of migrant
Children and families
In for profit concentration camps.
Tell me how the tiny-fingered tweeter
And Democrat centrist neoliberals
Can aid and abet neofascist, right-wing coups
In democratically elected countries
Like Venezuela, Bolivia, and Brazil.
Tell me what gives president bone-spurs,
Avoiding the draft five times,
The right to be president for life?
Tell me when does Congress
Become a rule of law again
Instead of a rule of men?
Victor Henry is the author of What They Wanted (FutureCycle Press). His poetry and prose poems have appeared in small press magazines, anthologies, and e-zines, such as Slipstream; The Paterson Literary Review; Red River Review, Homestead Review; Dead Snakes, Misfitmagazine, Monterey Poetry Review; In Between Hangovers; Winedrunksidewalk; Your One Phone Call; I Am Not a Silent Poet; Nobody Gets Off The Bus: The Viet Nam Generation Big Book; Vietnam War Poetry, among others. He is a retired reference librarian and lives in Marina, CA.
