Where's Hell When You Need It? Poem by Percy Dovetonsils

God I miss hell.
Nothell on Earth
-that'll always
be with us.
Just as it's with
our legless, armless, faceless,
IED'd
18,000
and counting.
Just as it's with
those who loved
and love
the boxed, flagged, unphotographed,
2,300
and counting
and
the shocked & awed
30,000 to100,000
and counting.

No,
what
I miss
is the hell
AFTER Earth
I wish
I still
believed in.

‘Cause if I did
I'd rest assured
the evildoers
who lied
us
into war
would
one day
be
going to
their just
re
war
d.

If I could
once again
believe
in hell
after Earth
I'd sleep in peace
knowing
the warmakers
awarding taxcuts
to the rich
while exacting
sacrifice
from us

would
forever
slow-turn & squawk
like chickenhawks
on demons'
spits.


Instead
I toss & turn
all night
seeing
the architects
of invasion
fleeing
their mess
to run
The World Bank
or
ranch
out West,
spinning tall tales
by the fire…..
telling more lies
about their lies.


And when each one
finally
dies
what if he
simply dies?
-Guiltlessly,
complacently,
somehow
imagining
he's
done
something
right?


3/27/06