Man Bites Dog

AWHILE back I was digging around for something or other and I discovered a cache of old poetry. This next piece was amongst the cache. It dates to ooooohhhh, I'd guess 1986? 1987? I don't recall what specifically what was going on in the Middle East at the time, but this kind of sums up what I saw going on in the area in general at the time. It's probably every bit as valid (or faulty) now as it was then. Enjoy!

ONE NATION UNDER

Crazed StLukeStPeterStJohn
Streaks and rages across lands
Of blazing sands
And burning brooks
God is envious of the world he created
And now He wants it back
The Dealer looking to make the lucky black bet
To strike the five-streak
House rules, play again
House odds, how strange?
The house wins.

Somewhere outside Jerusalem
In a bar on the backside on the street
The old beard tires of counting lost bets
And spills open a box of matches
On the counter
And sits
Waiting for one of them to ignite.

Pressure of triggertofinger
Spills open a fresh clip across the desert
Waiting for one of them to strike a compromise
Between mankind and miracle
Khakis in the jungle
Camo in the desert
Surplus gasmask and DowChem supplies
On blazing sands and burning brush

Looking to exchange DowChem for gray pinstripe
Looking to strike the five-streak
Looking to change future to past
Looking out for Number One, the Great Dealer
The Big Man, the Great Healer
Slicing and shredding His way across the Third World
Looking out for Number One
Looking up to Gray Pinstripe
And the almighty Positive Cash Flow
Screw the missionaries, we have our own God now
Raise the odds
Take the stakes
And God Damn the state lottery
The old beard shrieks INJUSTICE FOR INJUSTICE
The young beard spits out holy DowChem and brimstone
One God For All
And all gods to one end
In the burning sands of the holy land
And fire and ice and fire and ice
Over and over forever and ever amen
Unto the next holy dark age
Until the dealer lights the next five-streak.