by Alan Catlin
Futility Music
That's what they
call it:
the interrogators,
assassins
spooks
Heavy metal to us
Twisted Sister
Metallica
Kiss
Angry music:
Limp Biskit
Slip Knot
Rage Against the Machine
"Interro-tunes"
say those in the trade,
approved by your
Defense Department
"Mood music for
jolting your jihad"
Unholy, infidel
noise, horror sounds
the ultimate
cultural clash:
pure torture:
"We're Not Going to Take It"
"Shoot to Thrill"
"The Sandman"
Drowning Pool,
"Let the Bodies Hit the Floor"
Alan Catlin's latest chapbook is a long poem, "Thou Shalt Not Kill", and updating of Rexroth's seminal poem of the same name. Whereas Rexroth riffs on the abuses of the Eisenhower administration, the update observes abuses of power in the current administration with particular attention to the cynical, criminal behavior towards the Katrina hurricane victims. One year later, the victims are not forgotten. No matter how many candles the Bushes light, the appalling lack of humanity and the blatant hypocrisy of the folks in charge is as apparent as the disenfranchised, the homeless, and the poverty stricken people of the Gulf states.