Due North
It's a new year at last, 2011,
ushered in with both a bang and a whimper
as black birds fell dead from the sky
first by the hundreds, then the thousands.
People said the birds were simply frightened by the New Year’s fireworks
and flew into buildings… out in the middle of nowhere…
and flew into buildings… out in the middle of nowhere…
well, flew into each other then, got sucked up into a freak thunderstorm
pelted by hail, blown off course, confused,
perfectly understandable, happens all the time,
perfectly understandable, happens all the time,
blackbirds no longer sing in the dead of night,
because birds can’t see in the dark,
broken wings can never fly, starlings and jackdaws
they probably flew into traffic
they probably flew into traffic
collided with something… something besides the ground
with which they certainly collided very hard.
Then fish began washing ashore, surrendering the will to live,
crabs succumbing also to a fear of fireworks…
no, it’s the shift in magnetic north, throwing everything off kilter,
that damn extra zodiac sign has us all going in circles, running into things
it’s Facebook's stupid new profile page-
I mean who could have thought that would work out well?
In a coal mine, when the canary ceases to sing,
is found motionless at the bottom of her cage
they do not argue about whether she is just tired
or going on strike for better wages
or even if she has died of a broken heart from missing the sky.
They just run.
Here we are in 2011 and we just run into each other
as children and old ladies fall to the ground at our feet,
frightened by the fireworks from a Glock 9 millimeter
colliding in the dark with bullets,
because people cannot see with their eyes closed,
and the only kind of speech that encourages violence
frightened by the fireworks from a Glock 9 millimeter
colliding in the dark with bullets,
because people cannot see with their eyes closed,
and the only kind of speech that encourages violence
is saying that there is too much violence in our speech,
and Martin Luther King Jr. would have approved of this war- no really
we know he would, because America is the good guys
no matter how bad we are
it says so here in our contract,
right below where it used to say that all men are created equal,
no matter how bad we are
it says so here in our contract,
right below where it used to say that all men are created equal,
and in exchange for getting some of us the day off Dr. King agreed, after all,
to surrender everything he actually said or stood for
and to sponsor a really good electronics sale at Crazy Eddie’s.
And it’s a new year now, surely so much better than the old one…
so why are we are so frightened of our children seeing a simple word in a story,
one they probably hear around them every day
that we not only ban books, we decide to ban the history,
make a law that says those uncomfortable truths
which our founding fathers gave us the right to speak
must not be spoken in classrooms, lest they besmirch the good name
of people we would prefer remained
just cardboard cutouts on the classroom wall.
just cardboard cutouts on the classroom wall.
The most important lesson from history
is to rip the tags off the small pox blankets next time before you pass them out
to maintain plausible deniability-
see, if you deny you ever made a mistake, you never have to learn from it.
see, if you deny you ever made a mistake, you never have to learn from it.
Slavery still exists, but ignorance has replaced chains
and freedom just dies by degrees
but soon enough it too is lying motionless at our feet,
while government is nothing more than an amusement park ride
where Noah plays with dinosaurs and unicorns on the ark
where Noah plays with dinosaurs and unicorns on the ark
While the dove searches and searches for a sign of dry land
But the turtledoves are falling from the sky too
and It wasn’t from lack of a decent GPS, or swamp gas or sun spots-
and It wasn’t from lack of a decent GPS, or swamp gas or sun spots-
I think they died of shame.
Tracy Meisky is a poet, writer, singer, songwriter and all-around boat rocker from way back. Feel free to look around, but if you break it, you bought it.