A play called freedom,
Andrei Codrescu
I
let humanity howl in police state
signs above our heads read exit
but lead nowhere politicians
pose as saints dogs bark agitated
and are told not to simple narratives
justify hate among unequal peers
activists promise change but are part
of the problem armies adapt their
chants and key slogans with each
new administration the pan flutes
and kettle drums are playing a march
years old unforgotten but pointless
god is in our palms ensuring our destruction
and enjoyment
II
lucky elderly are walked by nurses,
not so lucky ones piss & eat in the streets,
begging, or selling candy with a misery tax
tourists are fascinated by the mess their forms
of living produce here ductile and exotic young
available women included the electricity bill
can’t be paid the banking system has collapsed
at the common-folk whore house
where men are unable to get it up
only in here do we value the rape of our
mothers by whites as status
a billboard reads god loves you
but his men love our children
III
the youths deserve what time has got
in store for them and so does this ill country
breeding them children exasperate us so
we are unnecessarily mean to them
trauma leads to addiction and violent behavior
trauma rocks our cribs; it is in milk formula
given as donation in the face of our empty
breasts along with the pursuit of happiness
the most criminal act of all
as enduring and pulsating as a fly’s lifespan
its crushed body symbolizes our common fate
when we think of each other there is a taste of cocaine
in our mouths body parts are tossed above
the conflict zone sky illuminating fireworks
IV
beggars are god in their eyes are all of our
equally low and insecure ambitions
we don’t know what a water shortage is
because we have been living in one
since the foundation
it is not a matter of scarcity,
but of fixed regional geopolitics and planning
right next to the downtown fancy café
public bathrooms lack running water
people use plastic containers to carry
it back and forth when they feel thirsty
though they’d rather have some coke
V
political warfare costs
worthless citizens poisoned teens
parents killed over drug debt
224 inmates are slaughtered in prison
over unknown uninvestigated causes
women and children die in the hands
of their fathers
an unskillful one, taking two to school,
in his early twenties drives away
as if operating a pedal toy car
clumsily, unfledged and enraged
abortion wasn’t an option
VI
no light will come out of grief & concern
the need for external validation
will be worse than a loaded gun or crack pipe
the sun does not exist anymore
we killed it
the jaguar has extinguished
we killed it
the forest is gone for the sake of progress
we killed it
as if we were one of Jesus’s whores
wisdom begins with a fear to the herd
self confidence is marketed as a geopolitical
tool we are glad we are fed it
in ethnically inclusive fashion
VII
she is on the other side of the line,
putting her bedridden child to sleep:
indifferent, empty, unprepared
our country is seeking justice at
an international law court
defeated, like a mother beaten
by her partner, but obedient
to the law we are told not to be
afraid these are just words
saying kill doesn’t actually kill
neither does saying I love you
VIII
the baby daughter sleeps on parental thighs
as a carnivore resting on its dead prey
the tired afternoon sunlight fades
away our country is a toy found at a park
fascinating at first, boring at last
the indigenous conscript in transit
from his home in some rural farm
to his duty post wears a sweatshirt
reading Harvard Law School
all countries that have colonial ties
are Haiti all are on their way
to becoming Haiti it is the outlet
of our river before we step into the rain
we look up to the sky as if
engaged in smart contemplation
we saw men do so in foreign film
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