Instantly go to First Dog On The Moon’s The Age Of Entitlement Will be Over When I Say It Is. I reproduce it here as the beautiful, unsettling, lacerating poetry that it is. Thanks, First Dog.
The Age Of Entitlement Will Be Over When I Say It Is
Close those women’s shelters
And cast those women out into the street
Send them home to the men who will beat and kill them
and their children
Do it
Throw the weak and lazy off the dole
Down into poverty and homelessness
Just say no
Do it
Save my ever loving tax dollars
I will sleep soundly at night
Please spend my tax dollars on your smug glossy children
And their remarkable schools
Do it
Just do it
Spend them on great smooth roads
And killer planes
Do it
I will be warm and dry
You must never wake at 4am
With a fear in your gut
Realising how you climbed across the backs
Of the rest of us
Don’t do it
Never doubt my resolve
You owe it to my taxes
We put you there
Tiny feculent gods
Dancing to consolidated revenue
My vote is lurking
Ever vigilant
Hurry! Build your great fetid looming obelisks
To your mercurial glory
Poison the sky
Do it
But don’t you waste my goddam taxes
Have some decency.
First Dog’s poem reminds me of Adrian Mitchell’s To Whom It May Concern (Tell Me Lies About Vietnam). The link between the two is the concept of immunity from (First Dog) or self-delusion of safety from (Alan Mitchell) harm. In Age Of Entitlement this concept is conveyed by the pivotal line I will be warm and dry. Tell Me Lies conveys this idea in its title and also the remedies for the intrusion of reality e.g Fill My Ears With Silver.
Here is reproduced Tell Me Lies About Vietnam:
To Whom It May Concern
(Tell Me Lies about Vietnam)
I was run over by the truth one day.
Ever since the accident I’ve walked this way
So stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.
Heard the alarm clock screaming with pain,
Couldn’t find myself so I went back to sleep again
So fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.
Every time I shut my eyes all I see is flames.
Made a marble phone book and I carved all the names
So coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.
I smell something burning, hope it’s just my brains.
They’re only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains
So stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.
Where were you at the time of the crime?
Down by the Cenotaph drinking slime
So chain my tongue with whisky
Stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.
You put your bombers in, you put your conscience out,
You take the human being and you twist it all about
So scrub my skin with women
Chain my tongue with whisky
Stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.
…also somewhat in this genre …
I Like To Know About A Story From You Your Heart Your Feeling Your Way Of Looking At It
Under The Milky Way 