unspeakable comparison

unspeakable comparison

Dedicated to all the brave, self-sacrificing politicians everywhere
who wield the sharp sword of austerity,

 and thereby slay their own citizens:

I. Prague 1969---or anywhere, anytime....

A young man:
His country invaded,
tanks have broken and crushed living bones,
hope has left the streets.

He decides to act,
a terrible act.

II.  Madrid or Athens 2012, or anywhere, anytime.....

An old woman and an old man:
The end of life approaching,
things are getting worse,
poverty waits outside the door:
He acts and she acts as well,
Each performs a terrible act.


III.

Suicide is a symbolic act because we are symbolic creatures:
insufferably full of meaning,
full of hopes and fears,
and longings,
but nothing is "merely" symbolic;
our suffering not the unwanted and unintended consequence of wise policies,
our longings are not a spoon tapping on an empty bottle.

Hopes and dreams squashed:
The brilliant hope for fresh air and sunshine,
the humble hope to live with dignity,
trampled and crushed by mighty engines of power and economy.

And, so, I draw an equivalence,
between what they call "totalitarianism" or "communist totalitarianism",

and what today is named "austerity":

Call it what you like,
the thing itself is ugly,
and drives feeling creatures,
living, breathing beings, creatures of thought and reason,
to lose hope,
and choose death.