Tuesday Poetry

Folk Song, by bongwater (Ann Magnuson)

I met an anarchist in Tompkins Square Park
he was an angry man
spinning words so dark
he called for death to rich men
death to Yuppies too
death to art fags, bourgeois blacks
death to landlord Jews.
Kill the bankers
kill the cops
kill him her and me
kill them all for CBS, NBC, ABC, TBN, CNN, HBO, "Live At Five", MTV Spring Break
Party Weekend, Sally Jesse Raphael,
Geraldo,
Oprah,
Arsenio,
Regis
and Kathy Lee...

And I said,
Hey, I admire your get up and go,
your youthful brooding and sexually charged enthusiasm and all your
other utterly naïve and thoroughly endearing adolescent qualities
and I bet you can keep it up all night, can't you?

But I bet you don't even use a rubber no you don't even use a rubber,
no you don't, do you?
Because you
think you can live forever.
Or do you have this adorable and misguided notion
that death is something really radical and cool?
But I still can help being wildly attracted to your
fresh-faced uncompromised tattoo'd rebel stance
and goddamn
I'd like to help you sing your tune.
But I've been making friends with this here death
and it seems a might too soon.

And I said,
Hello death, goodbye Avenue A
I'm getting tired of waiting, tired of being afraid.
Joseph Campbell gave me hope
and now I have been saved.
So I say, Hello death, goodbye Avenue A.

Now I'm not trying to be flippant here,
or irreverent, or exploitive, or sarcastic, or ironic, or post-modern, and this is not
a parody.
Get it? Got it? Good.

I've been thinking what he told me,
that it's okay to cry
when we held the crystal Tina Child
spent 12 Grand to buy
homeopathic mantras
fresh-squeezed wheat grass juice
doctors up in Bellevue
Doctors Salk and Suess.

And it's time we'll all be going home
if you can find the way
Yes, everyone is going home
going home to stay.

And it's time we find a way to cope
a way to find some hope
for some it's the Bible
or Buddha
or Mohammed
or Krishna
or cheesecake
or bourbon
or the Butthole Surfers
or Giorgio Armani
or Romeo Gigli
and you really can't afford it
but it looks so fabulous on you so why don’t you take it on home
and speaking of home
isn't it about time
you move out of that
East Village hellhole
you know the one with the Honeymooners view
of the brick wall out the window
because you deserve something more life affirming
like a tree, or a flower, or a patch of grass,
or a singing little bluebird
or maybe you just want to take your boyfriend to Europe because he's never been
or quit the job you always hated
or learn how to play the guitar
it's easy
or get obscenely drunk in a piano bar
and sing show tunes
show tunes!
and don’t be embarrassed,
because at this point
I'd rather see "Brigadoon" than "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer"
or maybe you'd like to get politically active
so you disrupt a Presidential press conference by shoving a 5 pound week old stalk of broccoli between those thin lying lizard lips
that no one can read anyway
because half the country is illiterate and the other half is apathetic including the First Lady
who couldn't step just 500 feet out of the overdecorated White House to visit the goddamn Quilt or maybe you'd like to put a bullet into Jesse Helms pea brain
but you know when you start thinking like that
when you start thinking like they do
then it's time to let go of the material world,
so maybe you'd like to get yourself some religion

because Jesus is the Way
Jesus is the Way
Jesus is the Way
Jesus is the Way
Jesus is the Way.

Besides, it's a lot easier to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior
when he looks like Willem DaFoe.

But maybe that stuff turns you off
so you rent "Power of Myth"
it made me feel really good (for about ten minutes),
or maybe you'd just rather do acid and listen to Led Zeppelin

Then again, the last time I took hallucinogenic drugs
was about five years ago
I took mushrooms in Joshua Tree
looking for that Carlos Castaneda kind of experience.
I got off, my boyfriend didn't
he fell asleep, left me alone with the television.
Turned it on, put on PBS,
you know what was on?
"Berlin Alexanderplatz"
So I started watching it,
and you know what?
I got really bummed out.

And that's when I said No to Drugs
No to Drugs
no no no no no
hell no to drugs,
and maybe you'd like to say no to drugs too
or maybe you want to join
Atheists of America
or the Madonna Fan Club
or watch Richard Gere follow the Dali Lama across the world
and then do those oh-so-Zen like movies with those oh-so-Zen like messages like
Hey! It's fun to be a prostitute!
I can't wait to spread my legs across Hollywood Boulevard
because then maybe some rich, handsome billionaire in a Jag
will come driving up and take me shopping on Rodeo Drive
and that's what a woman's all about anyway, right?
Sucking and shopping
Sucking and shopping
Sucking and shopping
Sucking and shopping
Sucking and shopping
Sucking and shopping
come on, it's a sing along
Sucking and shopping, sucking and shopping, sucking and shopping, sucking and shopping but hey Who am I to argue?
because this is the the feel good movie of the summer,
it's the feel good movie of the year
it's the feel good movie of the Nineties
it's the feel good movie of the Millennium
and you know what?
If it puts a smile on your face
and a song in your heart
and a spring in your step well
whatever makes you happy,
whatever makes you happy,
whatever makes you happy,
whatever makes you happy,
whatever makes you happy, whatever makes you happy, whatever makes you happy, whatever makes you happy
Whatever gives you hope.
Even if it's a truly tasteless joke.

So fax a manifesto.
Pencil in a date.
Let me know when something gives I hope it's not too late,
because I'm getting tired of waiting,
tired of being afraid.
Joseph Campbell gave me hope and now I have been saved.
So I sing, Hello death, goodbye Avenue A
Hello death, goodbye Avenue A
Hello death, goodbye Avenue A
Hello death, goodbye Avenue A."