THE HANDSTAND

july 2005

political poems of
IAN Reed from the USA


'War-Tear'
- by Ian Reed -
(on Republican Senator George Voinovich's speech
against confirmation of John Bolton as
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations)

Among the tears kept in Heaven's scroll,
Recorded in divine rememberance
With those shed on the Mount of Olives
Mingled with blood, were those a senator wept
In arguing no enemy of nations
Should ever be ambassador to nations.

Against a kiss-up, kick-down operative,
A twister of intelligence, wreaker
Of retribution, destroyer of dissent,
Strangling his language in his tears he pled,
Swelling the crystal river, orient pearl
In sobbing sorrows for each boy and girl.

Against the tide in the affairs of men,
He called on Justice not to slumber there
In Congress chambers where the River Lethe
Steeps in forgetfulness lest statesmen's senses
Behold how Bush, in labor for our loss,
Bangs one more blasphemous Bolt-on to the cross,

Against which outcome several sources flow
In contradiction of the White House lock
And pour in flood, as once the Red Sea
Immersed those chariot wheels Pharaoh unleashed.
Behold! Now one man's woe becomes a flood.
Blood spills for oil, yet water drops for blood.

O dint of pity, let thy lungs fetch breath
That may proclaim thee louder, for the blood
Of Abel from the ground cries out
To Him whose cleansing blood for mercy fell.
Bear witness, Father, from thy holy seat:
Tears in the Senate, bloodshed in the street.

May 2005


'Camilot'
- by Ian Reed -
(in tribute to Camilo Mejia,
first court-martialed Iraq War resister)

At first sight, to the eyes of man, he seemed
No military hero. They had to lower
The microphone for him to speak. Humble,
One might say diffident, was he, the first
Honored by court-martial for refusing
Orders to re-enter the killing dunes
And thus to "push more principles aside."
Yet how gigantic in the eyes of God,
No less than Abdiel who dared defy
Satan's Assembly of the Unrighteous
(As Milton saw, in 'Paradise Lost') was he.


'Corps Rant'
- by Ian Reed -

Humanity's champion, the Word made flesh,
The model of God's image in mankind,
Said cruelties done to the least of men,
As with neglect of Children Left Behind,

Would earn the wrath of Him who authored life,
Who was there when Creation's work begun,
Who, with one righteousness act, saying "it is done,"
Brought life to all, conquered the karma con.

Now as the Pentagon plays kinda culpa,
Confessing soldiers kicked Islam's Koran,
They overlook humanity's defilement
And how they kicked the Word of God in man.

June 2005


'Afterthought'
- by Ian Reed -

(on U.S. Senate's recent apology for past
failure to enact anti-lynching legislation)

Our pious Senate its past sin repents
Of filibustering each lynching decree,
Its stonewalling that sanctioned sacrilege
Spawning the Strange Fruit on the poplar tree.

Now are the patriarchs by scripture charged:
Produce good fruit according with repentance
Lest you would bring God's wrath upon your heads,
Your heels kick at Heaven by Heaven's sentence.

Yet strangely silent is that august body
Though countered clearly with a kindred crime
Replacing red-besplattered black-skinned fruit
With olive hue that rots upon the vine

Hanging from gulag cell in Abu Ghraib,
Guantánamo and gaols around the globe,
The same atrocity by different colors
Carried out by lynch-mobs clad in khaki robe.

How proudly all the little valiants vaunt
Their goodness, in self-righteous juices douse,
But woe upon that tribe of hypocrites,
The vipers nesting in the Upper House.

June 13, 2005


'Intestimonial'
- by Ian Reed -
(on a comment made by Donald Rumsfeld, June 14, 2005)

To show how captives in Guantánamo
Are fairly treated, Rumsfeld says they have
"The best food they've ever received," as if,
Coming from far-off, saffron-scented lands

Dripping with rosewater, they would prefer
The rations Halliburton serves between
Beatings, as if Rumsfeld had broken bread
With them, supped baklava or fragrant tea.

Gastronomy in Gitmo's a hard sell
To prisoners shackled in a torture cell.
A simple meal in peace, the Proverbs tell,
Beats any banquet in the halls of hell.

June 14, 2005


'Relief Brief'
- by Ian Reed -
(on G8 agreement to cancel the debt of 18 nations, June 2005)


In larding largesse on the landless poor,
The worldwide wanker bankers write off debt,
But for this token trinket exact more,
Ensuring that the benefits offset.

Now hold they out this carrot stick to goad
Another group of nations to the fold,
Enticing them to walk a stricken road
By which their natural resources are sold.

For peanuts on the dollar, they must cede
God-given rights and every watering hole,
Wholesale welcome of an exploiter's creed,
Surrendering to corporate control.

Widening their entrance for a hollow horse,
The Trojans learned to rue their city's rift,
So watch the IMF and World Bank course:
Counterfeit love of a conditional gift.

June 2005
*********************************
I do not yet fully understand how biblical revelation speaks to current events, but I do hear resounding resonance with Scripture's references to the beast empowered to utter blasphemies (Rev. 13:5) and to the man of lawlessness (2 Thess. 2:3-4), to Satan masquerading as an angel of light and his sons as servants of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:14-15), and to the abomination that causes desolation (several references). Bear in mind that Daniel, who coined this last phrase, was also the one who interpreted "The Writing on the Wall."

'Polemics,' a collection of political verse assembled since 2000, is at
http://www.ReedandWrite.com