Last winter the town of Newfane, Vermont became one the first in the country to pass a resolution against the un-American invasion and occupation of Iraq. Still standing up for principles in which they believe, residents of Newfane and other Vermont towns recently passed a resolution urging impeachment of the President.
A Boston paper quoted angry tourists threatening to take their money elsewhere.
maybe they got their wires crossed
the air sizzling with words
down here below
just so much static
bouncing off those landlocked peaks
maybe they’re too few and scattered
no critical mass of uncritical thinking
just do-it-yourself small-towners
and some old farmers
still mucking out stalls by hand
blowing steam across the rims of their
coffee mugs in the town hall
prob’ly still in their overalls
why can’t they be like us reg’lar folks
and go along to get along
follow all the orders from headquarters
don’t go running anything up the flagpole
just salute salute salute
then go shopping or something
and quit asking so damn many questions
tell you what
we’ll use the power of the penny
to bend their fancy talk to our will
their fine whitewashed fences
and pretty steeples can all go to hell
our by-god megaphones of glory
will show you how a 30% dis-
count really works
so watch us carefully now
nothing up our sleeve
we can do this even
steeped in self-induced sleep
minds closed to within a fare-thee-well
of a pig’s pucker hole
unfurl that
for what we say
the republic now stands
Robert Emmett tries to fathom the mind of the 30% and how they hold so much sway so uncritically from the frontwoods of Michigan where March is roaring.