by Buff Whitman-Bradley
A man walks out of his house and greets the surveillance cameras
But wait! He has forgotten his autographed copy of Leaves of Grass
He turns to go back inside and discovers
That his home is no longer there
Neighbors grow suspicious and call Homeland Security
Who surround him and demand to know his whereabouts forever
And the locations of all ticking time bombs
But he invokes his right to invoke his rights
Interrogators beat him to a pulp
And place him in custody for further consideration
As joblessness and foreclosures keep rising
He is rendered to Uzbekistan to atone for everything
Apocalyptic drones fill the sky over Afghanistan
As video jockeys in Las Vegas hunt for wedding parties
Children scatter willy-nilly all over the ground like crazed beetles
And explode cinematically in slow motion when bombed
The President goes on television to declare endless war
The holiness of The Cause the futility of resistance
While Walt Whitman’s shade wanders lost in America
And does not hear America singing
Buff Whitman-Bradley's poetry has appeared in many print and online journals. With his wife Cynthia he is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, Outside In, and co-editor of the forthcoming book About Face: GI Resisters Turn Against War (PM Press, 2011). He is also co-producer/director of the documentary Por Que Venimos.
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