a. d. winans

 

We the People

Sit in our comfortable apartments and homes
And watch the Katrina horror story unfold
Like a bad virus that won't go away
No matter how many antibiotics you take

The law that governs the White House
An outlaw in disguise
The water twenty feet and rising
Driving humans and animals to trees
And roofs
While the Secretary of State buys new shoes
And the President relaxes in Crawford Texas
Finally cutting his vacation one day short
To fly over New Orleans in Air Force One
Perhaps not wanting to get his feet wet
That comes only three days later
The damage already done

We the people watch the waters rise
Demanding our attention
But the poor were expendable then
And are expendable now
To politicians who see them as a liability

I have never seen before such horror
At one time in one place
Politicians a malignant cancer carried
In paper balls
The Bush Master a deadly snake
Striking over and over again
And the people never seem to tire
Of the poison he spreads
The malignance of greed
This insatiable hunger to feed
At the bones of the poor

The people controlled and manipulated
Every minute of their waking lives
Drugged with the elusion that the
President represents them

The body count will soon exceed
The death toll in Iraq
Where is the war on poverty?
Where is the war on disease?
Where is the war on racism?
Where is the war on class distinction?
Not on the President's agenda
Not on the stock exchange
Not scheduled for debate in the Congress
Or on the Senate floor

And we the people go about our lives
Addicted to TV and our sugar fix
And Wal-Mart and Starbucks
And consuming gas like water
Laying waste to the land
Like an army of locusts swarming over
A cornfield

Yes we the people share in the responsibility
Of what happened in New Orleans
More concerned with our daily latte
Than those less fortunate than ourselves
The bully in the White house with
His peacock prancing and rooster strut
Looking for a photo-op
Telling us how much he cares
And that there will be an investigation
In "due" time

This man of self-swagger
Who sends others off to die
In "his" war
This man who dares speak
For the dead

When will we the people
Shout out in anger
And say no more no more
To this political whore