Beneath the Surface of American Innocence
“The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Beneath the surface of American Innocence
Lies the stories told to ourselves and the world
To justify or excuse our actions
In the past, present, and future.
We own these stories.
They are our stories,
Showcasing the American way of war,
A country that has only known
16 years of peace
In its 244 years of history.
On the other hand,
Oppressed people
Since the late 19th Century.
Have felt the bootheel
Of these blatant lies
In regime change interventions
In Afghanistan, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba,
Dominican Republic, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq,
Libya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,
Somalia, Syria, Vietnam, and Yemen.
Presidents and politicians
Normalized imperialistic policies,
As if they came from God,
Legalized violence, genocide,
Slavery, and white supremacy
While war profiteers
Stuffed their coffers
Full of tax-free money.
Millions of civilians died
From the bullet and the bomb.
This senseless descent into
Might is Right brutal violence,
Fomenting bitterness and blowback,
Has led to the continuing collapse
Of America as a failed state.
Victor Henry has published poetry, prose poems, and a book entitled What They Wanted, poems about his experiences in Vietnam. His poetry and prose poems have appeared in small press magazines, anthologies, and e-zines, such as Slipstream; The Paterson Literary Review; Nobody Gets Off the Bus: The Viet Nam Generation Big Book; Vietnam War Poetry; The Homestead Review; Red River Review; Dead Snakes; Misfitmagazine;
Winedrunk Sidewalk: Shipwrecked in Trumpland; Monterey Poetry Review; I am Not a Silent Poet; Your One Phone Call, In Between Hangovers, among others.
“The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Beneath the surface of American Innocence
Lies the stories told to ourselves and the world
To justify or excuse our actions
In the past, present, and future.
We own these stories.
They are our stories,
Showcasing the American way of war,
A country that has only known
16 years of peace
In its 244 years of history.
On the other hand,
Oppressed people
Since the late 19th Century.
Have felt the bootheel
Of these blatant lies
In regime change interventions
In Afghanistan, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba,
Dominican Republic, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq,
Libya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,
Somalia, Syria, Vietnam, and Yemen.
Presidents and politicians
Normalized imperialistic policies,
As if they came from God,
Legalized violence, genocide,
Slavery, and white supremacy
While war profiteers
Stuffed their coffers
Full of tax-free money.
Millions of civilians died
From the bullet and the bomb.
This senseless descent into
Might is Right brutal violence,
Fomenting bitterness and blowback,
Has led to the continuing collapse
Of America as a failed state.
Victor Henry has published poetry, prose poems, and a book entitled What They Wanted, poems about his experiences in Vietnam. His poetry and prose poems have appeared in small press magazines, anthologies, and e-zines, such as Slipstream; The Paterson Literary Review; Nobody Gets Off the Bus: The Viet Nam Generation Big Book; Vietnam War Poetry; The Homestead Review; Red River Review; Dead Snakes; Misfitmagazine;
Winedrunk Sidewalk: Shipwrecked in Trumpland; Monterey Poetry Review; I am Not a Silent Poet; Your One Phone Call, In Between Hangovers, among others.
