[Kätzchen]

Dearest Diary,

Lately I've been (as others have too) contemplating on what's been happening on the American Finance scene, as well as other factors contributing to conditions across the socio-cultural landscape of America. It's hard to carry on an erotic story when you see the world imploding around you: the stakes are high, all bets are off, and the one thing I keep coming back to is the thought that while Americans were busy buying into the culture of consumerism, larger acts of criminality were happening right under our noses. I suppose, like many, we do buy into the idea that in order to perpetuate the cycle of finance (spend money to make money), sometimes one loses a certain perspective concerning how things have spun out of control. I wrote this poem and while it might just be only my thoughts and feelings about what I see, I know that there are many others who are now seriously questioning just what really has happened – where many now sit on the stage of global finance. With the credibility of American institutions blown -- institutions run by those in power -- it's not a far fetched idea to imagine just who orchestrated our latest "fall from grace."

I'm a Labor Democrat by choice: so in this poem when I characterize our latest sordid social mess, I use the word "blow." This term connotes/epitomizes our current governmental administration which has been controlled by Bush II and those who support tainted politics (which, to me, during my personal observations over the last 40+ years began with McCarthy-ism, Nixon, Johnson, Reagan, Bush I and the list goes on); which does not represent what I value nor what I wish for myself or others; nor are the officials in charge worthy of having been given such power to administrate American society. *** (see revision of notes below)

Of course, as with all the poetic thoughts I dare to write, readers may (or may not) completely identify with my strange arrangement of thoughts. So, without further adieu, here is my poem of the hour:



Death Culture: an Amerikan Zeitgeist

In the beginning (from a to z)
We all believed in a proclamation
Telling us how to be free:

The culture of hunger –
Longing for food, any food will do;
Probing empty garbage cans for remains hardly edible
Emaciated rib cages sharing a loo;
Flushing waste down a drain
Only to be filled with toxins --
This infested everyone’s brain.

The culture of complacent identity –
Resting upon improperly drained fields;
Fields not spun of gold,
But merely breeding more mold;
Growing neon green with jealousy,
Fueling rage filled hate;
Consumption was the by-word of those who unleashed
The “Free Market” gate:

This gate, led to co-operated greed --
Muzzled voices squelched by the speed;
The speed of a society,
Valuing corrupt populist need;
Wallowing in a cesspool made (no allowed) by:
“Make no mistake, I’ve got your cake”
As Lucifer, the angel of disguise,
Convoluted his prize,
The prize of a culture led astray
Testified to a pirahnaized frenzy in dry, dry hay.

*BOOM*

“Look! I see an Amerikan Zeitgeist!”
Came strange echoes from a shrouded past.
Civilization trounced in the name of absolute unchecked power;
Legions of tormented egos came screeching from its broken mast:
The Mast of a once renowned dream of liberty,
Fettered by fake visions of freedom,
All in the name of society, culture, race, sex and gender:
Look at us now – we’re in a zealots’ blender!

All politics aside
They’re tickets to the world’s greatest show –
The Amerikan Zeitgeist: a Horror Show
Directed and produced by those hooked on “blow.”


*** (revised notes): Very little has changed, politically, since the election year of 2008.