Hello mother hello father
this is Johnny in Iraq
don’t you know the ears are growing
phone calls to and from ‘other countries’
include Iraq
and mother’s sons and daughters
we can tell you we are lonely
but not, we want, to come home
you can tell us that you miss us
but if you tell us come home, they will brig us
demote us degrade us but never let us
consciously object to following orders
Iraq quagmire is our quagmire
we can’t tell you, of the thousands
of us
MASHed out of duty from disease
you can’t tell us of the 18 new bodies found in New Orleans
yesterday and more days after Katrina
the body count, mysteriously stays, at 1,422
oh poor Uncle Sam
how did we let them make you, the eyes and ears of the world
and our bedrooms
how did right get it so wrong
mother father when you find me
standing trial at Nuremberg will it still be
“Following orders is not an excuse.”
Shazoom it worked!
Fear returns to so many
the mind controllers set off pipe bombs in tiny communities
protesters numbers shrink exponentially
but the candle’s wick is longer
brighter insistent warmer
shades of Edward R. Murrow
who will fill his shoes?