America Under Your Nose

Perhaps you knew
This hitherto
I had no clue at all
That Washington, the capital,
Sits right between
Virginia, the Virgin, and Mary-
Land — the Virgin Mary
Understand?

Is this discussed
Among the nuts much?

Less so’s that America,
The name,
Stems from Vespucci’s

And that it means
Economy

The proof:

Amerigo’s like Emmerich,
or Heinrich which
It’s cognate with
Which comes from Heim
And Rik, for rule — that’s
Oikos and nomos in Greek

What does that give ya?
Oikonomia

Everybody must agree
It’s name just means Economy

American Economy
Why, that’s just a tautology!

And, yet, you should know,
The nomos is custom,
Traditional order and force

Driven by fear
The source of these wars
Consuming the earth

The Nomos is inimical to Logos

So why arrange shit
According to it?

If you want the Logos
The truth
and the light and the way

Rather than economy
Instead pursue ecology

God fuck the USA

Elliot Sperber is a writer, attorney, and adjunct professor. He lives in New York City and can be reached at elliot.sperber@gmail.com and on twitter @elliot_sperber