Breaking down the White Light of Empire,
This report starts at the big blue end of the spectrum:
Afghanistan, Iraq, held low under the high water of 1492,
By an oversized 227 year old man of war.
A down swinging empire of rising fear, meets its boomerang,
With the lies told abroad only believed at home.
Choreographed leadership to reconcile the world to American supremacy.
Fist bumps of hope capture celebration, news of massacred wedding guests escapes indignation.
Empire’s hypocrite calls out: “People of the world, look to” – Abu Ghraib (?)
Boasting democracy with Guantánamo, that shit stain of torture on Cuba‘s indigenous territory.
Looking over butt pyramids of Freedom, refusing to name the obscenity for what it is,
As minute men torture truth from the mouths of babes in tribute to the
Founding Fathers‘ waterboards of liberty.
As a Winter Soldier’s tattoo boasts of foreign adventure.
Überanthropological terrain, better targeting for a global kill chain:
Cluster bombs of liberation unleash a fury of fantasy on a cocktail napkin.
A rendezvous of fear and opportunity calls for lipstick and pearls,
They spray on Eau de la mort for their private function,
Racing to the doctrinal command’s members club,
The “SS” party crew bears a gift of plagiarized information.
Pepsi shows up in the trash, is danger at hand?
Luckily Abu Muqawama stands guard outside,
As Amatu Al-Muntaqim creeps nearer from surrounding jihad fields.
▲▼▲▼
Toward fortunate, harmonious, stable, traveled,
greedy, green
Something tepid this way ambles:
Middling middleman strolling the middle road from Middlebury where he middle manages
Cosmopolitan common grounds in a senior common room.
While the middlebrow irony man poses for an ad for a war on terror,
Counter-hope of continuity masked by vain audacity,
Tiptoeing on eggshells with a 50 caliber machine gun on his back.
Shifting to the centre, seeking a middle ground, avoiding vengeful anger.
Besides…what about Zimbabwe? And what about Sudan?
We are Nobel imperialists, not uncompromising by paying no regard to the sentiments of Others.
▲▼▲▼
Yellow, aging deceit
G-8 jabbering jowls ceaselessly chattering hegemonic gibberish.
The nobel‘s privileged view from the centre of the world.
True monsters fondly fondling their shriveled pedagogy,
Under silk hotel sheets hiding
That Naipaulian civilized Eurocentric eroticism
That “hates black men, but loves black cunt.”
“Africans need to be kicked – that’s the only thing they understand.”
▲▼▲▼
Ending dead on the dread of red
Red ants.
Zero hour.
Out of the night, J’ouvert’s red awakening.
Recreating a ’68 convention will see unconventional action.
As a monkey, left speechless by all the deathpower, promises to smash heaven,
As the long awaited chickens come home to roost,
As unbearable rage ensures that some will push back.
As it will be, because He Promised the Fire Next Time.
▲▼▲▼
ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY 
erikwdavis
sweet. The rhythm keeps changing, yes? Many parts of it suggest following lines which are (productively) frustrated. Also, I love “something tepid this way ambles.”
Well done on the link poem. The gauntlet has been thrown, I guess!
Maximilian Forte
Thanks Erik. The rhythm does change, in small part due to the resources that constrain each line (the titles, or contents, of each link), and the fact that I have attempted very little in the way of poetry in my writing to date. If you see any other “link poems” please let me know, I am sure they exist but finding them has not been easy.
Guanaguanare
Max, I believe poems like these are called “hyperlinked poems.” I was enjoying the poem as it stood in static state so I read it that way first. A second reading revealed new depths as I began to click on the links…some eye-opening, all thought-provoking. I think that this format is very effective where a piece of creative writing does not just make references to ideas, events, personalities but is allowed to make its logic accessible to all by providing the paths to elucidation.
I don’t know if JW thinks of it as a poem but “Who Are These Jokers, Anyway?” at the Bobolee Chronicles could be considered a hyperlinked piece with visuals.
Maximilian Forte
As always, thanks Guanaguanare, you have a unique way of representing and interpreting that always makes me look a second time and see a different angle, and speaking of the item the way I wish I had done. Thanks also for the JW link, I like what he has done, and I will search for other hyperlinked poems. Coincidentally, I read a piece today that was like a surreal scene from Heart of Darkness, a simple piece really, called Fear and Loafing in Baghdad, in salon.com. Elements of that could have been incorporated into my piece, had I read it beforehand.
anonyjw
This was another great piece, Max… and thanks for the compliment, Guanaguanare.
I didn’t set out to write ‘poetry’ with that post, but I just let the ideas germinate and sprout as I typed at the keyboard. I try to make all my posts as visually appealing as possible. Pictures do speak thousands of words!
And I just realised that the colour bar was hyperlinked! Tres cool…
I try to keep up with Max’s posts, but with the layers and layers of depth he drops in his writing, I’ll probably need to take a few days to let this one all sink in!!!
:-)
Maximilian Forte
Thanks as always JW. Too bad that I probably won’t do another of these for a long time…this probably took me several months to even begin to see an outline, and then a couple of weeks of actually writing and rewriting it, and it could still be improved.
anonyjw
This was really well put together.
Looking forward to the next one, then.
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