Poem (Ani di Franco/September 11/Flame)

[Xugumad]

Hey.

This is not for everyone. Obviously, political slant will be heavily attributed, and people will rapidly claim that this is yet another leftist artist thoughtlessly betraying America for the sake of being different. If it succeeds in provoking at least *some* thought, however, the artist succeeds. And that's all she wants, right? Provoking thought?

Ani di Franco wrote a poem, still a work in progress, which she has been reciting at recent concerts. The Robot Wisdom weblog called it 'incendiary', and it's hard to disagree. The third stanza is where the criticism becomes more lucid, whereas the final passage is clear in its simplicity and sorrow. No, this is not for everyone.
[Link and full text below]
http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/poem.html

===

yes,
us people are just poems
we're 90% metaphor
with a leanness of meaning
approaching hyper-distillation
and once upon a time
we were moonshine
rushing down the throat of a giraffe
yes, rushing down the long hallway
despite what the p.a. announcement says
yes, rushing down the long stairs
with the whiskey of eternity
fermented and distilled
to eighteen minutes
burning down our throats
down the hall
down the stairs
in a building so tall
that it will always be there
yes, it's part of a pair
there on the bow of noah's ark
the most prestigious couple
just kickin back parked
against a perfectly blue sky
on a morning beatific
in its indian summer breeze
on the day that america
fell to its knees
after strutting around for a century
without saying thank you
or please

and the shock was subsonic
and the smoke was deafening
between the setup and the punch line
cuz we were all on time for work that day
we all boarded that plane for to fly
and then while the fires were raging
we all climbed up on the windowsill
and then we all held hands
and jumped into the sky

and every borough looked up when it heard the first blast
and then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed
and the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar
looked more like war than anything i've seen so far
so far
so far
so fierce and ingenious
a poetic specter so far gone
that every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling
over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on
and i'll tell you what, while we're at it
you can keep the pentagon
keep the propaganda
keep each and every tv
that's been trying to convince me
to participate
in some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution
perpetuate retribution
even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution
is still hanging in the air
and there's ash on our shoes
and there's ash in our hair
and there's a fine silt on every mantle
from hell's kitchen to brooklyn
and the streets are full of stories
sudden twists and near misses
and soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters
with tales of narrowly averted disasters
and the whiskey is flowin
like never before
as all over the country
folks just shake their heads
and pour

so here's a toast to all the folks who live in palestine
afghanistan
iraq

el salvador

here's a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation
under the stone cold gaze of mt. rushmore

here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors
who daily provide women with a choice
who stand down a threat the size of oklahoma city
just to listen to a young woman's voice

here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now
awaiting the executioner's guillotine
who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads
to find peace in the form of a dream

cuz take away our playstations
and we are a third world nation
under the thumb of some blue blood royal son
who stole the oval office and that phony election
i mean
it don't take a weatherman
to look around and see the weather
jeb said he'd deliver florida, folks
and boy did he ever

and we hold these truths to be self evident:
#1 george w. bush is not president
#2 america is not a true democracy
#3 the media is not fooling me
cuz i am a poem heeding hyper-distillation
i've got no room for a lie so verbose
i'm looking out over my whole human family
and i'm raising my glass in a toast

here's to our last drink of fossil fuels
let us vow to get off of this sauce
shoo away the swarms of commuter planes
and find that train ticket we lost
cuz once upon a time the line followed the river
and peeked into all the backyards
and the laundry was waving
the graffiti was teasing us
from brick walls and bridges
we were rolling over ridges
through valleys
under stars
i dream of touring like duke ellington
in my own railroad car
i dream of waiting on the tall blonde wooden benches
in a grand station aglow with grace
and then standing out on the platform
and feeling the air on my face

give back the night its distant whistle
give the darkness back its soul
give the big oil companies the finger finally
and relearn how to rock-n-roll
yes, the lessons are all around us and a change is waiting there
so it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets
and clear the air
get our government to pull its big dick out of the sand
of someone else's desert
put it back in its pants
and quit the hypocritical chants of
freedom forever

cuz when one lone phone rang
in two thousand and one
at ten after nine
on nine one one
which is the number we all called
when that lone phone rang right off the wall
right off our desk and down the long hall
down the long stairs
in a building so tall
that the whole world turned
just to watch it fall



and while we're at it
remember the first time around?
the bomb?
the ryder truck?
the parking garage?
the princess that didn't even feel the pea?
remember joking around in our apartment on avenue D?

can you imagine how many paper coffee cups would have to change their design
following a fantastical reversal of the new york skyline?!

it was a joke, of course
it was a joke
at the time
and that was just a few years ago
so let the record show
that the FBI was all over that case
that the plot was obvious and in everybody's face
and scoping that scene
religiously
the CIA
or is it KGB?
committing countless crimes against humanity
with this kind of eventuality
as its excuse
for abuse after expensive abuse
and it didn't have a clue
look, another window to see through
way up here
on the 104th floor
look
another key
another door
10% literal
90% metaphor
3000 some poems disguised as people
on an almost too perfect day
should be more than pawns
in some asshole's passion play
so now it's your job
and it's my job
to make it that way
to make sure they didn't die in vain
sshhhhhh....
baby listen
hear the train?

[elSicomoro]

Interesting. Ani has always marched to her own drumbeat though.

[sapienza]

It's still sort of shocking for me to hear something other than the Party Line regarding 9/11. It's hard to walk that line between criticizing some of our government's actions in the wake of it and being apologetic for the attackers. Or to try to mention some of what may have made folks want to do such a thing to the US and being apologetic for the attackers.

I've lately found myself in a bit of a crunch. After 9/11, I found that for a while I was very much along with most other folks in regards to their feelings about "bomb afghanistan, let's do this thing." etcetc. Lately, however, I've become more and more ticked off with what's being done in the name of preventing something like this from happening. I may be just reading too much into things, but it seems like too many people in this country are okay with giving away some of our freedoms for a police state, just so that this doesn't happen again.

'Course, that's just how it's appeared to me. While the deaths of 3000 people are a horrible thing, I can't help but feel that they're being abused by those in power in order to gain more power and to go off into other tangents. Now what's going on, we're talking about invading Iraq? *sigh* I thought we were going to go in and take out Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, and that's about 75% to done.

Instead, we're turning the War on Terrorism into a much worse version of the War on Drugs. There's no possibility of ever having an end date, so we'll basically just be in a state of war all the time. Seems like soon no one will be able to speak up against it, lest they be accused of offering aid to the enemy. And the worst part is most americans seem to be swallowing the idea, hook line and sinker. Gulp.

It's cliche and it's been trotted out before, but I can't help but draw similarities between this and "1984." Constant state of war and the rapid changing of enemies. I have the feeling that one we go into Iraq, bin Laden will be forgotten. We have a new enemy for the masses to support their leader in defeating! Hooray!

Ugh.

...

Apologies for my rant. I've been drinking for St. Paddy's for the last 5 hours, and in a little bit I head out for another few hours of imbibement. Hopefully I can at least stir up something, though, with the rest of you folks that are celebratin'.

sapienza

[jaguar]

sapienza was is peace after all.
hmmm, intersting line, but as poetry, its pretty average =p

[russotto]

Just another leftist artist using 9/11 as a vehicle for her own political views.

(not a vice limited to leftists, of course)

Commonly abbreviated in "net-lingo" as

<b>JALAUSEAAVFHOPV (NAVLTLOC)</b>.

[Xugumad]

Originally posted by russotto
Just another leftist artist using 9/11 as a vehicle for her own political views.

(not a vice limited to leftists, of course)

I am shocked that somebody with political views would use a 'current' event that caused more political upheaval than anything else in a decade to motivate political views.

Hang on for a moment. That's a truism.

So what you're saying is that the socio-political shockwaves set off by important event would be seen in a political light? What?

Ah. Stating the obviously self-evident. I see.

Let's not think too much about the repercussions of such issues. Let's smile and let the governments do their difficult job. After all, that's what we elect them for, right? Right?

X.

[russotto]

Originally posted by Xugumad


Let's not think too much about the repercussions of such issues. Let's smile and let the governments do their difficult job. After all, that's what we elect them for, right? Right?

X.

Obviously you don't know me too well. Trust the government? Ha!

However, when someone uses 9-11 to push views on issues such as the 2000 election (above), computer hacking (Congress), bringing God back into the country (Falwell, I believe), gun control (abortive attempt by HCI), or other such things, I think that's mere opportunism and not a genuine attempt to re-examine issues in a new light. It's an attempt to use the event as some sort of talisman which wards off opposition.

[ladysycamore]

Originally posted by sycamore
Interesting. Ani has always marched to her own drumbeat though.

Indeed. It "kindasorta" reminded me of your poetry.