October 6, 2001

Alone

The park nearby is named after an admiral

The word comes from the Arabic amir-al, commander

Commander of the sea. What presumption!

How many did he kill during his career, I wonder

My street is named after an Indian tribe, the Mohawk

One of the many in the Iroquois Confederacy we all but exterminated

Not because of any particular failing of theirs or unique merit of ours

But because we killed so much better than they did

The flags waving in town these days hail American greatness

Never mind the world resources we plunder

The human, animal and plant varieties we are extinguishing

The sickness of our earth heralding death within some fifty years

My friend says we were at peace before September 11th

What about our bombing of Iraq two days before? Was that not war?

Our intentional targeting of that country=s water supply ten years ago

The one million children who have died since then because of us?

My admired mentor says we must defend our constitution

Because so many of our ancestors fought to get it

What is the relationship between the worth of our constitution

And the fact that our ancestors obtained it by killing?

I watch as we raise our children to accept the killing of others by age eighteen

Ensuring that when the next one in our long line of enemies threatens us

The young generation will follow suit, and even feel like us

Innocent victims of a malign and treacherous attack

We dominate the earth through our power to kill

Its continents, oceans, atmosphere and even deep space

Its beauty, mystery, magic, unfathomable grandeur

Its role as humanity=s gateway to the heavens

And we are poised to hold on to our prize by killing

Perhaps even to the day when no one will be left

Except those willing to kill

Not only each other

But also their mother, the planet, as collateral damage

I feel sad and alone.

References

Mohawks

Churchill, Ward, A Little Matter of Genocide B Holocaust and Denial in the Americas, 1492 to the Present (City Lights), 1997.

Resources

Foster, John , The Vulnerable Planet -- A Short Economic History of the Environment (Monthly Review, New York), 1993, 1999.

Gelbspan, Ross, The Heat is On B The Climate Crisis, The Cover-up, The Prescription (Perseus), 1998.

Iraq

Cockburn, Andrew and Patrick Cockburn, Out of the Ashes -- The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein (Harper Collins), 1999, page 137.

Nagy, Thomas, AThe Secret behind the Sanctions B How the U.S. Intentionally destroyed Iraq=s Water Supply,@ The Progressive, September 2001, pages 22-25.

Domination of the Earth

Blum, William, Killing Hope -- U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II (Common Courage), 1995.

Grossman, Karl, Weapons in Space (Seven Stories, N.Y.), 2001.

Johnson, Chalmers, The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (Owl, Henry Holt), New York, 2000.

Kako, Michio, Explorations, B The Black Box Program (Pacifica Radio, 3729 Cahuenga Boulevard West, North Hollywood, CA 91604) PRA PZ0389.013, 12/26/00.

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