Ira COHEN
In Praise of Halliburton
"To kill in a world where life animates everything, even the invisible or the inanimate,
is a serious fault that can only be eased by forgiveness."
—Jean Paul Mohen (from Ancient Rite)
And from where comes forgiveness?
From the invisible inanimate?
Or perhaps Dr. Jekyll will forgive Mr. Hyde,
the victims the perpetrators?
Is the only possible hope that
the dead forgive the living
the hunted reprieve the hunter?
What can the skulls say?
In the mirror of meaning
will modern man leave fossils
behind to tell our history,
perhaps some footprints at the
scenes of mass murders?
Greed & the lust for power
grow with the brain's evolution.
And the light of nuclear bombs,
will they bring truth, reveal
a vision of earth's Heaven,
a forgiveness equal to the
cimes of nations unfit
to rule?
December 23, 2003
Merry Christmas
Closing Time
Now I find myself
alone
in a vast museum
hall
where I encounter 30 ft.
tall wooden Duck Priests
of New Hebrides—
the shade of Thelonious
by my side. Hail to thee, O Monk,
You have heard
that which no one
had heard
And you played
what no one had
played
before.
You were yourself
the rarest thing
of all.
February 16, 2002
at the Metropolitan
The Unreal Desert
My heart can’t take it
any more
If we are the victims now
who are the victors?
If we tear off the deceptive
masks
of our own leaders
must we face the void
naked & alone?
Then there is the obscene
mathematics of guilt.
I am left with dreams
of Coconut Island, the
paradise of childhood movie
theatres, now that torture
has become the flower of
capitalism. Are we not
the lost cause, the same
old story—hype as a
final solution?
May 3, 2004
104th St. & B/way