twisted puzzles

what ought i to hear

my ears to the air

besides hawks and doves 

accusing each other

our lives are twisted puzzles

pieces cut often to fit our dreams

who knows what this leads to 

besides a gathering of dissent

to medicate our minds

let us move to the simpler affairs:

making war, dropping bombs

killing children, destroying friends

why confusion in the war rooms

what's needed is toxic love

we're lost in a maze of chattering

life is simpler when music is sung

what's not simple is US

we confuse ourselves with God

gods contending with each other

o'er the length of our power

seeking the fulfillment of the bland

the meaningful void

the days that will rot

and the people who are rotting

where do we flee from this:

Paris-dives and fiery-ghats

paper-wars and verbal-spats

genocide and ethnic laund'ring

silent towns bombed in silenced wars

tragedy attends us like a nurse

we shit in our pants and on ev'ryone else 

a non-Shakespearean gifted comedy

it's life as we've made it

with the support of Death

though we die 'cause we will

and die 'cause we kill

latter deaths teaching us nothin'

adding to our toll of shame

so what's rooted in our flimsy concealments

our pretences and complicit lies

is it that we've never touched ourselves naked

nor imagine others clay like ourselves