Time for This

by Lindy Davies

I really don't have much use for poetry anymore
It mostly just seems clever and precious

I used to be quite open to it; wrote it
& all, even studied it; learned that it was
called "the right words in the right order"
Which is why I need it right now

because I don't have time for this.

The "President" is harping on "chemical
and biological weapons" well yes

Let's talk about "his" intent to use them:
if we bomb Iraq, they will lose
what tenuous ability they have left to provide
safe drinking water for their people: to whom
cholera and dysentery have the precise effect
of biological weapons and will kill hundreds
of thousands of innocent
civilians.

I don't have time for this:
did Iraq bomb the United States? Will they?
Saddam is not Osama. Iraq isn't Al Kyda; Al
is Saddam's enemy for cry sake; Saddam
is as infidelish as George.

Let's get it straight.

We are about to bomb bomb bomb
bomb bomb Saddam
bomb bomb bomb
bomb bomb Saddam because
we want conrol over the oil because in that
lies a whole lot of profit for the current clique.

This is unworthy of us. It mocks
everything we claim to stand for. It is cowardly
and shameful. We must stop this thing. We
must stop
this thing. If we do not
we are no longer
a great nation, merely
a fizzling empire, and "Bush"
is what we deserve.

No war in Iraq.
No war in Iraq.
No war in Iraq. I don't
have time for this.

I am building a home for my family, teaching
political economy, learning
how to be a builder, a parent and a teacher, I don't
have time to tell this idiot "President" to stop
and think, but I must tell him.
Everybody must tell him.

September, 2002

What folks have been saying:

Snap out of it! Think for a second that you don't have time for 'this' because you know so much? (Georgist). I can't tell you to Snap out of it, because you are living in history! (child labour and so on endemic). Where would you go if 'they' dropped the bomb? The hills? Well, that's what I'm thinkin'! Tom McKay ps. and don't laugh, because Canada could very well be next on the list.
Tom McKay <nevart@look.ca>
Bolton, On CA. - Friday, October 04, 2002 at 21:20:02 (EDT)

Not because I know so much, Tom -- because I have so many constructive things I want to try and accomplish, that I resent the time I have to spend resisting the bad policy of a "President" that wasn't even elected.
Lindy <lindy@henrygeorge.org>
- Saturday, October 05, 2002 at 09:44:42 (EDT)
Good morning Lindy, I sent you something here last night- I'm afraid my poetry doesn't get any better with age, but what I meant by "snap out of it" was that I, too, find this Bush thing depressing but more than that- obvious! You can see right through this American policy, and what is actually interesting is that we see the kind of stuff that has happened in the past happening again- ie. The Gulf of Tomkin "affair" as it's called and drumming up patriotic ferver for the Spanish American war back in the 1800's and so on. I think it was econ amature that -ya, here it is- "The War Prayer" by Mark Twain http://www.populist.com/01.18.warprayer.html- that should work. It's like watching history unfold before your very eyes all over again only this time on TV- and it's no less INFURIATING now than in Mark Twain's time, maybe it should be more-so, because after all we should have been able to IMPROOVE things since then- being the mightiest nation that's ever existed on earth! George Bush ... grrrrrr! Anyway, Cheers man. Tom We won't let these so 'n' so's get us down. Keep up the good work, and just to make your day a little cheerier, don't expect to see your work on Henry George bear any fruit in your own lifetime. But just keep it up. It will happen brother, it will happen. It never happened in Mark Twain's time, but it will happen. And what I mean by "happen" is EVERYBODY at least KNOWING what single tax is- just that- just everybody at least just knowing about it. That's all, and I don't think that's asking too much. And I don't expect to hand all the responsibility over to you either, but just keep it up. You are doing the right thing, and I KNOW you couldn't give it up even if you tried. So there! Cheers, Tom
Tom McKay <nevart@look.ca>
360 Centennial Dr., Bolton, On Canada L7E 2C7 - Saturday, October 05, 2002 at 12:01:48 (EDT)
thanks for speaking out against the war. and thank you even more for taking up the subject of economy. I have myself written up some thoughts on that subject, you might want to see my site (economy section is Gesell-oriented): http://www.hasslberger.com
Josef Hasslberger <sepp@lastrega.com>
Rome, Italy - Sunday, October 06, 2002 at 10:35:55 (EDT)
The U.S. put Saddam in power. Saddam is a genocidal psychopath, as the Kurds can tell you, as many of his own people know. The pretexts usedby the administration may be wrong, and the U.S. may be denying its own complicity. The means may be wrong. But Saddam needs to go, for safety and justice's sake.
The Agrarian <Bvd98@yahoo.com>
- Sunday, October 06, 2002 at 18:55:04 (EDT)
Well, Agrarian, I never said Saddam was good; clearly he's not. Neither was Mobutu or Pinochet. It seems likely to me (as you imply) that there are really no rational, consistent or fully correct responses to the insane unraveling of the Cold War. But: Hussein has been very effectively contained for twelve years. There is nothing urgent about the timing on this; it seems to serve the Administration's political purposes only. And attacking Iraq will do nothing to correct the underlying imbalances that "make us so hated" in places like the terrorist training camps rumored, now, to be hosted by Saddam (I take that one with a big grain of salt) -- in fact it will make matters worse. It may well get bio-weapons shot at Israel, for example. There's no good that can come from this war effort now. There's plenty of bad that can come from it.
Lindy <lindy@henrygeorge.org>
- Monday, October 07, 2002 at 08:17:00 (EDT)

Want to find some answers?


Progress & Poverty - Definitions - Capital - Law of Rent - Booms & Busts - The Remedy - Links