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Thursday, September 10, 2009

JOEY WILSON'S WAR

by Steve Hellyard Swartz


You lie!
When you say They're just as good as us
You lie!
When you say There's a one of 'em a man can trust
You lie!
When you say It's okay for black to marry white
You lie!
When you say The South gave up the fight
You lie!
When you say This country ain't a Christian one
You lie!
When you say It's all over but the shoutin', son
You lie!
When you say I'll ever march to a tune sung by Obama
You lie!
When you say This ain't no Selma, Alabama


Steve Hellyard Swartz is Poet Laureate of Schenectady County in upstate NY. A regular contributor to New Verse News, Swartz has also been featured in Best Poem, switched-on gutenberg, and The Kennesaw Review. A two-time Honorable Mention in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards, Swartz is also a filmmaker. Never Leave Nevada, which he wrote and directed and in which he co-starred, opened at The US Sundance Film Festival in 1990.
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