No darkness like
American darkness:
scalp in one fist, treaty in the other; it wears a stolen feather.
No darkness like American darkness.
We all know what’s under the bed; it wears a white hood.
No darkness like
American darkness:
it stinks of plastic
instead of ancient woods;
wears menace like a tumbling skyscraper,
not like a sacred mountain.
No darkness like
American darkness:
it doesn’t wear black,
but green;
it doesn’t even care
if you can see it.
Seed to stem, stem to school, school
to work, work to bone, bone to hand,
hand to mouth, paycheck
to paycheck, worry to more worry,
desperate to despair, despair to prepare,
prepare to ruin, ruin to rash, rash to reckless,
reckless to reckoning, reckoning to armament,
armament to carry, carry to itch, itch to shake,
shaking guns drawn to sudden discharge,
steady guns drawn to clearly aimed executions,
bodies to fall, fall to faint, faint to disbelieve,
disbelief to convictions, convictions to whisper campaigns,
whispers to scream, scream to chant, chant to
march, march to war, war to end all war,
end to end and head to head laid in lines
border wall to wailing wall, silent sea to shining sea,
stem to stern, stern to solemn cry, cry to cradle,
cradle to cold and lasting grave.
Dark Matter 