by Lucille Gang Shulklapper
“Stay the course,” keep using force, no remorse for the dead and dying, “stay the course,” keep on lying, “ support the troops” without buying armored tanks, protective gear, keep on lying, victory’s near, Iraq’s free of fear, Saddam’s dead, the Ba'athist Party’s fled, the new government loves us, their flag flies above us, “Stay the course”, the fourth amendment shredded ,our soldiers beheaded, our phones tapped, our economy sapped, our stem cells discarded, our privacy disregarded, “Stay the course,” a Trojan horse, in North Korea, and Iran, Rove’s talking points, those he anoints.
“Cut and run” from our ports, “cut and run” from Katrina,“Cut and run” from the legislative arena, “Cut and run” from those who disagree, from those who see torture and rendition, an unaccomplished mission, Islamic sects in opposition, “Cut and run” from our sick and poor, from knock and announce at your door, leave no child behind, “Cut and run” from the scientific mind, “Cut and run” from Murtha, a man of honor, “Swiftboat him” so he’s a goner, “Cut and run,” from CIA agents outed, subpoenaed journalists who shouted. “Stay the course,” or “Cut and Run,” peppered words, a loaded gun.
Lucille Gang Shulklapper is workshop leader for the Florida Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress. Her poetry and fiction appear in journals and anthologies, including: Switched-on Gutenberg, Into the Teeth of the Wind, Slant, Common Ground Review, and others. She is the author of two chapbooks of poems: What You Cannot Have, The Substance of Sunlight, and one mini-chapbook : Godd, It's Not Hollywood. Living up to traditional expectations led to work as a salesperson, model, realtor, teacher, and curriculum coordinator throughout schooling, marriage, children, and grandchildren.
