for all my dead brothers

 

hope left on the

last bus out of

town

 

i poured one out for

all my dead brothers

 

lost in whatever damn

war we're fighting

anymore

 

the hole in the wall

bar doesn't have any

sense of joy tonight

 

i asked joey what's

going on tonight

 

he motioned over

to the end of the bar

 

big john was crying

in his beer

 

he never thought

she'd actually get

on that bus

---------------------------------------------------------------------

a history of blood clots

 

the endless misery

 

pain dances down

my spine, resting

in my lower legs

 

sleep is impossible

 

walking is a chore

 

and of course,

sitting too long

isn't the best thing

for someone with

a history of blood

clots

 

most of my days are

spent between ice on

my back and walking

between every few

videos on youtube

 

the mind does its

best to keep me

occupied from

reality

 

some days, failure

is like breathing

------------------------------------------------------------------

i never had many friends

 

i used to listen

to jim morrison

when i was a

teenager on a

regular basis

 

he went pretty

good with the

marijuana i was

smoking at the

time

 

i'd save

burroughs

for any trips

on acid

 

i enjoyed

the feeling

of dr. benway

looking to

destroy me

 

and bukowski

always showed

up on the nights

the bottles won

the war

to find love at your age

 

the soft curves

of the last woman

you ever loved

 

she never wanted

anything serious

 

and you never

expected to find

love at your age

 

don't allow the

brain to destroy

it again

 

savor the moment

 

each smile, each

whisper

 

each quiet night

wrapped in loving

arms

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

the false hope

 

this endless charade

push pull give take

 

the promise that someone

is out there just for you

 

the false hope that there

is gold at the end of the

rainbow

 

enough failure and that

hope ends up as a bullet

 

and love is the ability

to pull the trigger

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

J.J. Campbell

Turmoil 

Arms once raised in ‘Heil’, 

now carry coffee cups 

in a time of consumption 

before resumption 

of Information Age war 

when tanks are a memory. 

Now swift airstrikes 

initiate missile attacks, 

conserve the lives 

of democratic troops 

reluctant to be squandered 

without meaningful purpose, 

yet loyally obeying 

incomprehensible orders 

to fight limited battles 

with confusing enemies 

in Iraq, Afghanistan. 

While the fading hegamon 

still bestrides much of the globe, 

the only sovereign power 

willing to confront extremism, 

as long as it doesn’t offend 

the peace loving people of Islam 

who never seem to deplore 

the brutal violence carried out  

in the name of the prophet. 

The decadent West, 

whose wanton females 

shamelessly bare their flesh 

to the eyes of men, 

tempting them to sin, 

are the true enemy. 

Admonitions 

to reject calls to Jihad 

are righteously ignored. 

How else can evildoers 

be redeemed for wrongful ways, 

if they don’t accept the true faith, 

the only road to salvation? 

Someone coined the phrase, 

‘Win the hearts and minds of the people’, 

a strategic fantasy of our leaders, 

who never understood 

the will of the enemy 

is stronger than theirs, 

who know without doubt 

that sooner or later 

we will abandon our allies, 

leave our trucks behind, 

withdraw our troops, 

proclaiming victory. 

This pronouncement 

meant to disguise defeat 

by a primitive foe 

that had no jet fighters, 

hi-tech missiles, 

just an unconquerable will 

that refused to crumble, 

despite devastating assaults, 

emerging victorious 

over the oppressors. 

While another great enterprise 

by the bastion of democracy 

failed ignominiously, 

every setback a further erosion 

of the spirit of America, 

besieged on all sides 

by friends and foes alike. 

Gary Beck

Holiday IV 

We celebrate the Fourth of July. 

The French celebrate Bastille Day. 

I forget what the Russians celebrate. 

Potemkin Day? Karl Marx Day? May Day? 

But does anyone remember 

why we celebrate these holidays? We all seem far removed 

from revolutionary change 

and except for the usual 1%, 

we all want more material comforts 

and most of us are unwilling 

to cut off the heads 

of the aristos, 

substituting fireworks, 

patriotic music, 

for the Guillotine.  

Gary Beck

Deceptive Words 

The President addressed the nation, 

explained why once again 

we’re going to war in a foreign land 

that does not threaten us, 

but is inexorably linked 

to the war against terror. 

I wonder if he understands 

in a declining nation, 

once the policeman of the world, 

limited resources 

are insufficient 

to stem the barbarian hordes 

clamoring for the blood 

of civilized Westerners. 

So our leader spoke loudly, 

despite carrying a shrinking stick, 

paid for with the taxes of the people 

who continue to get poorer, 

while the wealthy profit 

from ongoing wars. 

And leader after leader 

gave us war after war 

consuming our youth, 

devouring our treasure, 

while a resentful world 

measured our decline, 

waiting for the tide of history 

to dwindle us to impotence, 

so aggressive nations 

can conquer other lands 

we no longer protect 

We squandered our resources 

in consuming interventions 

that left us destitute, 

barely able to resist 

envious competitors. 

The tragic fall 

of a great empire 

was caused by overreach, 

led by the greedy few 

reaping obese profits 

at the expense of the people, 

who foolishly believed arrogant leaders. 

Gary Beck

Park Entertainment 

A Broadway show 

comes to Bryant Park, 

a musical, of course, 

safer then serious drama, 

or controversial comedy. 

The actors sing, dance, 

highly skilled, 

but their voices lack 

warmth, emotion, 

the vital qualities 

that make music move us. 

Yet this is a free show 

and I can’t help wondering 

why people pay 

$125, or more, a seat 

for impersonal entertainment. 

Gary Beck

National News 

The media tell us 

the economy is improving 

and the well-to-do, 

the comfortable 

believe them. 

Yet the poor 

struggling to survive, 

the middle-class 

of diminishing income, 

no longer accept  

reassuring pronouncements 

that things are improving. 

Gary Beck