Tuesday, September 11, 2012

A Reply to Ani

Editor's Note: The piece below was written by SamVox in March 2002, a direct response to Ani DiFranco's controversial 9/11 poem, "Self Evident"

ani,

i heard the train.
well i think i did.
but we looked at death
and we underbid.
we spit at death,
just days before.
at meth heads
made from teenage whores.
at train-wrecks
mused from troubadours.

so now the towers shall dispel
our previous definition of hell.
the devil's dust will remind
some hours we can't rewind,
some cowards can still run blind,
through our big backyard...
and grandma's flowers wilting fast-
all those showers filled with gas;
the poison gardens of our past
revisited on NY grass.
will you ever forget all we've lost?
history books call it 'Holocaust'
and Saul says nine-one-one's part 2:
"Forget about red, white and blue.
Tragedy don't need a theme;
Ain't about who we redeem
and tragedy don't need a name,
death camp victims bled the same."
so what's the cost of reconnecting
two generations intersecting?
us kids, so bold and unsuspecting;
we learned exactly who we were-
raw, belligerent, pure
politically obscure.

that dawn, the sun came up in spades
'neath your cap and wrap-around shades.
the news, it felt like razor blades,
new millennium death parades.
newspapers say it's true, it's true-
in His hands lay the chosen few.
now what are we supposed to do?
the big idea is Peace On Earth!
let's start small-- Dallas/Ft. Worth?
then bus on up to Oklahoma.
Denver, Boise, then Tacoma.
SaveTheWorld 2001-
no sleep until Washington!
with your idols, Bob and Duke.
could've easily been Bo and Luke
touring in the General Lee,
the day we only felt half free.

to the ignorant go the madman's spoils;
freedom fuckers on our soil
politicians tire, toil
and Mayor Rudy, he struck oil.
he came clean in our bloodbath,
hero of the aftermath.
wait 'til Iraq feels our wrath!
then, we'll get the old last laugh!!
revenge, the only sacred path!!!
so he'll pray to his God
you'll pray to yours
and then we'll torch
Convenient stores?!?!!

six months later, here we stand.
leadership is in demand
but i can't blame Jeb's helping hand-
a brother does all that he can.
if you're not cheatin,' you're not tryin'
this country was already dyin'
and now chain emails circulate
that burn our new bush at the stake.
look, i don't like him either dude-
but now the great election feud
seems trivial, at best, to me.
i keep watering my weeds, you see
even the ones that snuck in the room
deserve a fair chance to bloom.
so George, if you do not a thing
but promise us old freedom's ring,
point your finger, wave the flag,
2004 is in the bag,
Miss Liberty is on the rag,
bin Laden's somewhere,
dressed in drag,
and me and you ani
we take our jabs.

anyway,
we awoke that day
put back the U
in S of A.
and everyones in it
'til you say when-
we're all new england
pats again.
and every station
found time to break
for a tea party...errr, a wake.

some say, ani,
your poem train
sounds like Marvin Gaye
and rides in vain.
if it makes you feel sane
to know someone is listening,
i am.
yours truly,
sam.