Flicking through channels
Snatching my eye roots from eye catching images
My thumb stuck on automatic
Forwarding too fast to stop where
My mind clicked

     I went back

And tuned in to
A video collage of commentary
An expose slash documentary
A life hardened soldier with a cigarette and gun
Eyes of god
And only eight years old

     And forth

And cringed
Accosted with a blitzkrieg of flashes
Monkey clowns jumping and yelling and blasted
Gold nooses and platinum shackles
Drinking expensive piss
Temples broken, minds in ruin
And addicted to shit

So I fasted for a second
And put the volume on mute
Not knowing the pictures would speak louder
And how much they would hurt

     I went back

To the front line of a desperate state
Filmed in dangerous conditions with no second takes
Catching glimpses of how brutal life can really be
When the hand wielding the weapon makes reality

Butchered bodies (cut a chicken)
Lives dispatched without hesitation and,
While I was stuck on the machete splitting a grown man's skull…
Realized that life ended is intended
Made that eight year old god

     And forth

To the commercial
Programming weaker minds
Who tune in to their god
Providing their needs

I saw thoughts being worked on
Those who never work their thought
I saw the works of gods dictating
For how much our souls are bought

So I bowed my head respectfully
A moment for the dead
Hit the mute button again
And braved the voice that filled my head

Overwhelmed, the tears welled
As they quoted the stats
That every three point five seconds
Someone's hurting like that:

     A child is molested
     A daughter is raped
     Someone's little boy is murdered
     And someone dies of AIDS

     Someone's struggling with cancer
     Someone's fighting to live
     Someone's tossing out their leftovers
     While a mother watches her baby die of starvation…

Overwhelmed, the bottom of my heart gave out
As I remembered the facts
That every day's a blessing bought with sacrifice
And I'm indebted to that:

     Protect the children and my village
     From those who would murder, steal and kill
     Comfort my elders in their twilight years
     And whoever takes ill

     Believe in Jesus, not that Jesus
     And live that God lives through me
     And love the way I breathe, easy
     And not possessively

     I went back

And realized that life ain't no damned video

     And forth

And wondered why anyone wouldn't think so.



May 26, 2004