Yellow Caked in the Face

In "bracing for terror" before the election
the administration sternly forewarns
that November’s alert status will be Red

with prescience, suggesting that operatives
("the bad guys") might already be in place–
discolored strangers "carrying Almanacs,"

raising the paranoia to imaginary heights
so that it might appear that only one man
under God can save us from untimely demise,

appealing to our greatest fears, so that
we might blindly reinstate the cause
of this preemptive and unnecessary war.

In The Continuing Mean-time

The datelines of innocent civilians
under siege continue to expire–

Israeli assassins rain havoc over
potentially suicidal Palestinians–

Syrian and Egyptian tremors follow
the fault lines back to their source–

Yellow caked in the face of disembodied
tagged, and bagged returns of the day.

HAMMOND GUTHRIE is the author of AsEverWas: Memoirs of a Beat Survivor. He is the editor of the great online journal The 3rd Page. He can be reached at: writenow@spiritone.com

© 2004– HAMMOND GUTHRIE