Big Bridge #10

An Open Letter to America

 

John Beer

 

Total Information Awareness

"This bubble had to be burst, & the only way to do it was
to go right into the heart of the Arab world
& smash something." The hotel heiress, snapped
flashing her bum in a Bahamas club.

To go right into the heart of the Arab world,
they claim their device can trigger an orgasm:
flashing her bum in a Bahamas club
on a boozy date with her new bloke, Nick Carter.

They claim their device can trigger an orgasm.
American officials who spoke on condition of anonymity
on a boozy date with her new bloke, Nick Carter,
say he confessed under torture in Syria.

American officials who spoke on condition of anonymity
without touching a woman's genital area
say he confessed under torture in Syria.
"There's no explanation why. We're just not saying anything."

Without touching a woman's genital area,
I take it all seriously. I am withdrawing from all representation.
There's no explanation why. We're just not saying anything
to make this objective absolutely clear.

I take it all seriously. I am withdrawing from all representation,
but he was in the special removal unit.
To make this objective absolutely clear,
the development of counterterrorism technologies—

but he was in the special removal unit.
This had profoundly shocked the commission,
the development of counterterrorism technologies
with the flick of a switch. Women get turned on.

This had profoundly shocked the commission.
No one detected any radical political views.
With the flick of a switch, women get turned on
to a new business model that only pretends

no one detected any radical political views.
I take it all seriously. I am withdrawing from all representation
to a new business model that only pretends
to give consumers more control. In fact,

I take it all seriously. I am withdrawing from all representation
that she refused to be photographed in body paint
to give consumers more control. In fact,
he was handcuffed and beaten repeatedly.

That she refused to be photographed in body paint
constitutes an integral goal of the IOA.
He was handcuffed and beaten repeatedly.
There's no explanation why. An information whiteout

constitutes an integral goal of the IOA
while Justice turns to Syria's secret police.
There's no explanation why. An information whiteout.
Forebodings of disaster enter into box scores

while Justice turns to Syria's secret police,
constructing systems to counter asymmetric threats.
Forebodings of disaster enter into box scores
to achieve total information awareness,

constructing systems to counter asymmetric threats.
This bubble had to be burst, and the only way to do it was
to achieve total information awareness
& smash something. The hotel heiress snapped.

 

Swift Boat Veteran for Beauty

The mission, when we finally arrived,
seemed paler, more insubstantial
than in the travel agent's glowing description.
More muck, less hacienda. Let me be the first
to underscore the insignificance of lineage.
And where did you get that handkerchief, again?
At the handkerchief shop. Little Batson sold me it.
Twelve men approached him as he sang
the song of the lovely wanderer, transposed
into a key I suddenly found unfamiliar.
The men deny that they are lonely.
Their tears speak out against them, even if
they explain it away as antifreeze residue
or hints of the mist that surrounds us.
By the side of the road: three shoes.

And where did you get that handkerchief, again?
She replied, "Pianos have been known to lose their tune
when played by antic hands." Understand me:
I didn't take this as an answer, or I probably shouldn't have,
and wouldn't, if I weren't as feeble
as everyone suspected, and prone to jawing on
long after the mouse had fled my painstaking trap.
This isn't my apartment, so I won't sleep here for long.
Tomorrow I'll return to lovely wandering
through the halls of the house I have stolen
from children I don't expect to ever see.