Haiti A Basket Case Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

Haiti is a basket case.

They marched him down the gangway by
the feared Tonton Macoute, armed men dressed in Hawaii shirts
and slacks, partly concealing their guns
The young thief shivered, I thought they were going to kill him.
At the pier, they spoke friendly to him and told him to run away
he ran and ran, as he was running to the corner of a warehouse
thinking if he got around, he would be safe they opened up the fire and
shot him dead, his feet still running on the ground.
I have a vague recollection of seeing Peter Ustinov, but I think
was because of Graham Greene's book "the Honorary consul"
I was an avid reader when young and tended to put myself in
the action, one can say I was captivated by the book I was reading.
even Micky Spillane was on the menu.
I had given the Tonton people cigarettes and whisky they saw
me as a good guy and invited me to go with them to a bordello
I found an excuse for not going, I had a great fear of these
murderous thugs.
Haiti is in the news again, gangsters have taken over, but
the country has always been run by gangsters the biggest
problem is the access to US guns; I do think the USA will
end up like Haiti if America loses all discipline and lets hatred
often combined with race, take over the country.