[Peace] HE-E-E-E-ELP! [July 4th IV]

[Ricky Baldwin]

We need your BODIES, your TIN CANS--
and if anybody out there has an old CAP WITH A BILL
that we could use as an army general’s lid we’d
appreciate it very much!

WHO could pass up an opportunity like this?  It only
comes around once a year.  Yes, now, unbelievable as
it may sound, you, too, can spend a hot sweaty day
trudging along the pavement behind a radical anti-war
float in a small Mid-Western community on the Fourth
of July!

The patriots will all be out, waving their flags and
perspiring, munching deep-fried chips and perspiring,
swilling a beer or two or three and perspiring,
feeling proud of their country and perspiring, arming
their kids with supersoakers and perspiring --
-- and around the bend we’ll come --

They may SEE us first: 
twelve-foot oil well gouging the cloudless blue
horizon over the heads of high school bands, the flags
and banners and the ladder trucks.

They may HEAR us first: 
the din of pennies in tin cups rattling up and down
the parade route in and through the sounds of brass
instruments and sirens and drums.

Or they may just SENSE our presence, as a wave of
mood-change washes through the crowds in our wake, and
maybe leads us slightly, and spreads out alongside our
giant painted letters billowing in the breeze --
“Billions for War = Pennies for Our Communities”.

But they’ll definitely marvel at Halliburton CEO Daddy
Warbucks raising a cold glass of bubbly with General
Nuisance of the Joint Chiefs in the (sparse) shadow of
a precious oil well, beside the Pentagon and a map of
Iraq scrawled with play-by-plays.  

They’ll stare slack-jawed at our Billionaires for Bush
partying with the CEO and the general amid monster
bags of cash weighing down our hay wagon float.  

Their eyes will squint and then pop with amazement as
a troupe of beggars struggles forlornly along behind
the wagon, rattling the tin cups with pennies and
carrying signs that read, “Where’s the money for
health care?” “Where’s the money for our schools?”
“Where’s the money for veterans’ benefits?” (this last
one in uniform) --and the like.  

Behind all this will follow a ragtag cloud of hippies
with signs proclaiming various grievances against the
war machinery, smiling, waving and flashing
two-fingered peace signs.  

And in case they still don’t get it, a couple of
bearded weirdoes will strafe the bystanders on either
side with printed salvos on the cost of war, the lies
of government and the resources where anyone can learn
more.

So-- how can YOU join in, you inquire eagerly?  Easy. 
In order of importance:

1.  Show up and bring somebody: Oregon and Busey
between 12:30 and 1 pm on Mon. July 4.  We’re no. 44.

2.  If you have a cap with a bill that might pass
(with some decoration) for a military general’s,
please call us now!  328-3037 will do fine.

3.  If not, just bring us an old empty tin can (soup,
beans, or other variety) before this weekend, please. 
Call 328-3037 for dropoff instructions.  (Or you could
bring it to our regular Main Street demonstration this
Saturday between 2 and 4pm.)  And thanks.

See you soon!






		
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