RHYME SCHEME

Children's books are so subversive...

With most Blog "memes" reaching new degrees of pointlessness by the hour, I have decided to start something quasi-meaningful. Inspired partly by fellow blogger Surrogate (of Jesus Reporting), I have decided to initiate a full fledged POLITICAL POETRY SLAM across the Blogosphere. Sure, there will be wanton suckage on some sites...but the intent shall remain ever-pure.

So what's the fucking point of this all? I'll tell you: We live in a politically volatile time, much like the 60's...but the spirit of that era still eludes us. It's like we have protest songs, but our music sucks. Sure, we have activists and revolutionaries. But most of them are too high to vote. So let's shoot for something more all-inclusive...something more grassroots, with the emphasis more on roots, than grass.

TO PARTICIPANTS: Entries can be of any persuasion, left-wing, right-wing, or flat-out batshit loonball. Your post title should be "Rhyme Scheme 2005" or some such; and you should link to the site that implored you to do this. Otherwise, conventional "meme" rules apply.

Let's start this ball rolling, shall we?

BLOODRED PATHS

In a land of milk and honey,
In a land of sight and sound;
In a time when playing God
Is the biggest game in town,
Only time and God are money…
Or the other way around.
...............Now everything’s surreal.
...............Now they’ve clubbed the seventh seal.
...............Now the seventh church is burning to the ground.
...............Now everything makes sense.
...............Now secret governments
...............Are gathered for a night out on the town.
...............(Now everything is burning to the ground.)

In a land where might made right,
And then made several lefts;
In a land where word of mouth
Got a mean case of Tourette’s,
Four Horsemen race tonight…
Gentlemen, place your bets.
...............Now false profits have us tricked
...............In the name of politics,
...............Like a séance and a circle jerk combined.
...............Now we sing an Amen chorus
...............As they make decisions for us.
...............We all forged our neighbors’ names as we signed.
...............(Now everything Man wants shall be combined.)

In a land where the tide has turned,
But the undercurrent’s strong;
In a land of blood-red paths
That we traverse with a song,
We are almost, sort of, learning
Why we believe but don’t belong.
...............Now we break our toys so they stay ours;
...............Now demons are not foreign powers,
...............Nor sycophants, nor psychopaths--
...............A deluge of delusions of grandeur.
...............And like alligators in the sewers,
...............Urban legend becomes epitaph.
...............(Now a bleeding heart has left a blood-red path.)


AMERICAN DEADBEAT

It was once said that we were beat
Like a hard, much-traveled road.
Maybe in the 1960’s…
But that road has since closed down.
Since the highwaymen left town,
Dark and desolate are the streets.
Business at the rest stops lacks.
Now technology reigns supreme,
Performing an unnatural act
Upon the American Dream.
“We’re just cogs in the Machine!”
Is the hoarse, violated scream
Of American Walking Meat.
...............(We’re little more than meat
...............To the powers that be…
...............The Meat Generation,
...............God shed His grace on thee.)

Living in such defeat,
After having won the game…
Always glued to our seats,
In a long run so short-sighted
That only its signs were lighted—
While darkness claimed the streets.
We all rush to sign the pact,
When endorsed by the winning team.
We’re the handle to an axe
That we never know who swings.
And now Death has lost its sting,
‘Cause we’re numb to everything
In legalized retreat.
...............(Envelope-stuffing casino queens
...............Were passed out drunk at Twilight’s Last Gleam.
...............Some want a better tomorrow…
...............And some just want better things to drink.)

Gum and snot under the judgment seat,
The 10 Commandments on the back.
Justice will be served during May Sweeps.
(But for two weeks freedom might stop,
When the network moves its timeslot.)
Obey the law—it’s must-see-TV.
While ghetto culture continues spreading,
Our nation’s racial tensions won’t cease.
Blanket identities—piss-soaked bedding…
All faithfully delivered each week.
Blessed are the willing…Blessed are the weak…
Suffer the children…Suffer the meek…
Suffer unto us for us to eat.
...............(Land of the Pilgrim’s pride,
...............Land where our fathers died,
...............Land of the bleating sheep
...............Who are shorn from the inside.)

In God we trust, obsolete.
Trust in our credentials—
God knows, we don’t have a creed.
They took our weapons away
When it turned into child’s play—
Just white-wash the bloody streets.
But they couldn’t outlaw hands and fists…
They couldn’t outlaw the soul that screams.
“God is love,” but ignorance is bliss,
And the only joy many have seen.
Amen—hit the snooze when freedom rings.
Only dream the American Dream…
Like American Deadbeats.
...............(The Watchdogs love us; the censors care—
...............They care about the Red Rocket’s Glare…
...............While the American Deadbeat
...............Just assumes our flag is still there.)


THE GLOWING ANGER

A growing distrust of men,
As I watch it all crumble to dust--
As I see golden rules melted into golden calves…
I walk these fields as a victim.
Like a thief in the night, some have stolen the sun from the day.
They have stolen my love out of lust…
Taking my name in number, and I lost my faith on the way.
And when I close my eyes, my ears burn as something laughs

A gripping fever sets in…
It swears I am not the one that’s sick…
Voices whispering to go, imploring me to come.
I’ll never follow again.
Like Adam’s wake to missing ribs,
I awake to all that contradicts…
Men pacified as babes in cribs…
I awake in discomfort to those comfortably numb.

A glowing anger within…
Yet I only want to put the candles out.
I’m no shepherd, and grow weary of counting sheep.
How could I ever begin?
But what burns inside won’t be told not to…
Since waking up, I only know to doubt.
Since waking up, I only see what I can’t do.
Since waking up, I only want to go back to sleep.

***

I'll hit you with three more at the end of the week. Let's see how far this travels...

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