[Newspoetry] newspoem by Raymond Federman

[William Gillespie]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 19:26:54 EST
To: gillespi at uiuc.edu
Subject: Re: [Newspoetry] newspoetry daily poems to end Dec 31, 2002 (fwd)

william

there is it my news poem


NEWS FROM TOMORROW

.....BOMBS..... DROPPED...
.......FROM LEFT AND RIGHT....

The Eagle and the Bear
have gulped each other ....
Down....

And the land is flat
                              Barren ...burnt
              Cut ...torn ...

And it rains blood from the sky
where the dumb birds fly
And it rains blood in the sea
where the dumb fish swim

And France has been devoured by hungry mouths
And England and Spain swallowed by the sea
And the brown and black men of Africa
have learned to write their own laws
and tortured themselves into civilization
And America has turned into a giant casino

All the Jews have been burned in a giant furnace
All the Catholics have been crucified
All the Muslims have learned to explode
And the Klu Klux Klan have eaten each other

 The world is flattened now ...
                                             ....scarred
and the stones are pale
like human faces
and the trees are on their knees

The Chinese rice has rotted
and they feed on human flesh

The southerners have been lynched
and their women raped by negroes

The book burned
And Arabia India Israel have been
                                      cut .....sliced
                                      cooked ......

And the Moon erased from the night
And Mars conquered and the Martians enslaved
And God [who died a long time ago] forgotten
And Life twisted ... deformed ... reduced to dirt ..
                                                       bleached .........

And Man too ...bleached ...

But let us assume that one of us ...
Only one ...You perhaps ...
(or) Me (or) anyone ...

You over there with the dreams
You hiding behind this poem
should escape
                     out of time ... into space....
with insanity scratching memories
out of your mind

And find there
                       a planet.... a star...
                        a world ....
where trees are still tall
where birds hide in couple to sing
where there is laughter and laughterature
and where there is a lstill a little love
and hands touch the night without fear

Let us assume
                       then ....
that a strange hand
should reach into your flesh
and shape with your bones
your mother's face ...

Will you again eat the forbidden fruit?