Here’s a haiku., or In the United States of Betrayal.
I.
I woke in sweat
Thinking about the 56 or 57
Most Republican parties –
In the United States of Betrayal.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
What can I do to help?
I raised crops, children, doubts
a way of living that comes out of the dust.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
He kisses the moon, eclipses yesterday
and rejoices in the moaning love.
II.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
What can I do about it?
Ray\se my voice about the bars of election,
grip the sand with my teeth,
tell the stories to the ancestors
I heard by Buffy, Amos and Pete
On relief;
remember every holler-day
the scream like hers.
ring the bell, stop – don’t tell,
hear the children in the hall whisper their colors
beneath the death knell of liberty – re:
red white and black and brown .
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
III.
My courtship of the past left me in bed with their mom,
little Mass – a chu –setts,
Sittin-g in the Cali-i-forni-cation of our nation’s yes yes yes.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
What can I do to help when the President lets out
the Hinterlander-lands militia-alary police?
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
What can I do to - to stop
every mother fucking cop
before he puts one
- o no
one
Ono!
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
the wind is brewing North,
I can’t get the words out of my mouth,
I’m headed back down South,
liberty in hand.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
IV.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
I want to help the poor.
The mother at the door.
The friend whose lost her way.
The one who had to stay.
Behind the jailhouse pool
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
when the glistening spool of government
will fail to unwind or un-wound every last word of the ghetto.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
The blond and the great of it.,
In every State of it,
The dying, living hate of it
At the prison house door
With the son’s of the whore
And the refused, confused, infused pretend-You-used-
The-last-roll-of-paper before they shoots youse
Un-Patriot act.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
.
V.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
Black, off the track,
pack that lack,
mesmeratize for their vision,
Poetess and painter and electricians
signing petitions in remission
in the Mission and the Castro,
Bernal Heights and Outer Sunset,
Western Addition,
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
Bowery, Tenderloin,
North Beach, Chinatown,
Russian hill,
Potrero hill,
up sam hill,
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
raise Joe Hill
He don’t need to kill,
except with laughter.
VI.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
Children on the street,
Brothers that we meet
In the Fillmore
And Hunters Point
In the upper reaches of the Park,
Before they close it to foot
Traffick.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
I’ll ask for a cigarette
In a bar
In North Beach
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
and the cops will get tramped by 57 ladies
Selling cigars, cigarettes, a good time in the hallway of the hotel
When the heat makes him swell
Like an antelopes’ tear.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
Sing verses, spout curses,
Relate, instigate, repatriate
All the lost souls.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
Remind them downtown
They can’t make me frown
Cause the class
Has no need to be nervous.
Amy’s in the flat tomb,
She’s looking for soot,
Barry’s in the garden
Munching on the pit
Of a senator whose gone out to prey.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
VI,
I woke in sweat
Thinking about the 56 or 57
Most Republican parties –
In the United States of Betrayal.
What can I do about it?
Ray\se my voice about the bars of election,
grip the sand with my teeth,
tell the stories to the ancestors
I heard by Buffy, Amos and Pete
On relief;
My courtship of the past left me in bed with their mom,
little Mass – a chu –setts,
Sittin-g in the Cali-i-forni-cation of our nation’s yes yes yes.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
I want to help the poor.
The mother at the door.
The friend whose lost her way.
The one who had to stay.
Behind the jailhouse pool
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
Black, off the track,
pack that lack,
mesmeratize for their vision,
Poetess and painter and electricians
signing petitions in remission
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
Children on the street,
Brothers that we meet
In the Fillmore
And Hunters Point
In the upper reaches of the Park,
Before they close it to foot
Traffick.
VII.
I want to forget-o
In falsetto
Relief and repet-to
I woke in sweat
Thinking about the 56 or 57
Most Republican parties –
In the United States of Betrayal.