A Call to Patricide, a poem to my father

I

The days of mourning for my father are at hand.

That my days may be short.

Father,
you have inspired me.

Where is my honor?

You read,
'He who curses his father or mother, let him be put to death.'

Bound to repeat

a son honors his father

II

You have afflicted my brother.

For my brother you have made yourself equal to god.
My father, shall I kill you? Shall I kill you?

Our father, boastful of heaven, deserving of death,
blessed with a life you don't deserve.

These days are not of mourning.
That my days may be short.

I shall kill my father.

pre-emption

mad schizophrenic dreams
bombs falling on Mexican villas
the U.S. gov't. protecting me

not a schizophrenic dream

this way sir spread your arms
take off your shoes
you know you might die today

america is cashing in

cashing in eating healthier
in a military mood
not pleased
an organization of midwives
not a hamburger
america's favorite franchise opportunity
letting aids become an epidemic of the young
not winning the war
starting a new crusade
dead
the christian right
not a democracy
not rome
making it volleyball shorts $10
dying slowly
disowning
now a tiger
hated
a racist nation
not innocent
great because of its people
getting skinnier
a democracy
giving us all a fortune 500 headache
not a nation 'under god'
a thoroughly corrupt tree
better
making it volleyball shorts and all
a tribute to the 'construction' of the us
going to the left
starting a new crusade
playing games with nuclear weapons
the christian right
dangerously wide
beautiful and not on time
partially funded by at&t and nissin foods
a pluralistic ethnic and racial democracy
making enemies of even its friends
a great country but
me
paid for with lost jobs
one nation under a constitution
the solution
hope and freedom
back to normal for the first time in i think six weeks
back to normal
great because of its people
dying slowly
good for the world
not a nation 'under god'
worth defending
hard to find
dying slowly
failing
business
in a military mood
badly shaken
letting aids become an epidemic of the young
not a democracy
the christian right
out of control
the solution
burning
waiting
getting skinnier
lazy
dying slowly
indeed subverting the middle east
eating healthier
a threat to world peace
not innocent
getting skinnier and skinnier
a nation with the soul of a church
a democracy
a thoroughly rotten tree
automobile obsessed
falling into an illuminati trap

Aaron Anderson is currently a graduate student in literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has published in various journals since 1999. He is presently researching his ongoing project entitled 'In the Chambers of the Prince: George W. Bush, Evangelism, and the Cult of the State'.