This poem was originally written during the Reagan years. It is still appropriate, I believe.
You invite me
with your sweet talk
with your talk talk talk
you invite me
you say
hey Jose
my name is John but
that doesn’t seem to matter
and you say
hey Jose
mi casa es su casa
and you tell me
with your television eyes
with your magazine tongue
you proclaim
with your corporation arms
with your military eyes
you insist
with your rockets like penises
with your PR like spanish flies
you say
I love you
just like that
I love you
I love you
and you march march
through the room
through the house
saying
I love you
shouting
I love you
marching
through the town
though the world
screaming
I love you
despite the fact that I’m
too old
and too poor
and too ugly
and you say
I love you
and I believe it!
Well I know what you want
it’s in every statement you make
it’s in your face
it’s in your clothes
it’s in the way you comb your hair
but I’m in such need
you seem to have what I need
I need you so bad
so I go with you
and I let you fuck me
I let you fuck me
over and over
and you fulfill my need
you fuck me over
and you fulfill my need.
Something is not right here
something is wrong
I feel like a hostage
I feel like an abortion in progress
I feel like piece of celluloid
splitting on the screen
something is wrong here
something is definitely not right.
Well I came home today
and I saw you
I saw you
I was looking through the window
I was peeking through the door
I saw you
you were cheating on me
you were fucking with the TV
putting that goddamn box
between you and me
I wanted to smash it
I wanted to unplug that energy sucker
I wanted to murder that impostor
and you looked at me
with those eyes
with those TelePrompTer eyes
gloating like a drum of toxic waste on the hillside
fuming like a factory in the city
threatening me like an oil slick on the beach
and you said go ahead make my day
go ahead you said make my day
you said make my day
so I left
I ran out with my chains
I smashed a few windows
I set the house on fire
I wrote fuck you all over town
Why are you doing this to me
why are you doing this
haven’t I given you what you wanted
haven’t I given you everything you wanted
well I feel so bad
I feel so bad
I feel so blue
well I got the blues
yeah I got those alienation blues
it’s in my lungs
it’s in my corpuscles
I got them blues in my sputum
I’m blue man
well my name is Jose
but you can call me John
you can call me John
yeah you can call me John
well you can call me alienated
you can say I’m alienated
you can call me blue
yeah I got the blues
and I live in Justicetown
yeah I live in Justicetown
ain’t got no bed
you’ve thrown me out
ain’t got no home
you’ve thrown me out
ain’t got no shelter
you’ve thrown me out
I sleep on the street
I sleep on the bench
I sleep in the doorway
I fuck newspapers
yeah I fuck newspapers that say
I love you
yeah I live in Justicetown
and I eat our of trashcans in
Justicetown
I donate blood to
Justicetown
I donate plasma to
Justicetown
ain’t got no car
ain’t got no money
ain’t got no shoes
all I gots the blues
in Justicetown
well something is wrong in–
Alienation
Alienation
Alien
Nation.
--from deMOCKracy (Plain View Press, 2007)
© 2016 Mike Maggio
