Let Their Children's Children Decide

Enjoy Your Inheritance...

let your children's children's children decide who was now right or dead wrong -

should they ever be born and learn to read, should they even grow up

ask them what it is like in the land that we carved up from coast to rich coast

get their opinion on our furiously confusing petroleum-powered lifestyle

poll them about what we did when all the fish were gone or poisoned

listen to what they say of the animals they know of only in books and zoos

discuss with them the agricultural contamination they congenitally inherited

talk about toxic landfills also filled with half eaten foods and tons of recyclables

question them over paying off your credit card by refinancing your home

prompt them about ignoring the increasingly hot, dry and windy weather

feel them out about the green revolution and the value of large human numbers

probe them concerning their legacy from the turn of the 21st Century

listen to their bewilderment regarding our runaway military spending

ask them which are the lands of the free and where the brave actually lived

have them detail consumerism's contribution to our legacy for humanity

have them name one media event that millions of you sat haplessly glued to every week

get them to list out the issues we knew and ignored which now plague them every day

let them judge us only on our actions, should they suspect our motives

determine if they find us quaint but levelheaded or foolish and short-sighted

find out if they still emphasize expensive form over boring substance

ask them about the wisdom of our nationalistic intolerance

get their opinion about the cheap fast foods that we grazed upon into a proud obesity

poll them about our exterminating the smiling chimps and the quiet orangs

listen to what they say about the birds they can only hear now in old recordings

discuss with them the toxic runoff our pavements dumped into their channelized rivers

talk about the plastic litter we casually tossed that they still find everywhere they go

question them over the wisdom of leasing a new gas-guzzler every second year

prompt them about ignoring the heavy metals & coal-fired mercury in a mother seals milk

feel them out about our policy of righteous and reactionary, preemptive exceptionism

probe their feelings about what we did for so long to the cows, pigs and chickens

listen to their questions about how corporations took over the government

ask them to name the countries that they can actually admire from our times

get them to list all the ways our political religious right has blessed their lives

have them name a scientist and one corporate leader that lived among us

have them list out the benefits of an ever-increasing world population

let them judge us by our legacies should they have forgotten our empty rhetoric

determine if they still feel that abortion really is an overriding and very public issue

find out if they think we left them a chance to have at least what we had

ask them what those we called conservatives actually preserved for them

get their opinion on the affects of global aquaculture methodology

poll them about the brains of cetaceans and our killing them in the name of canned tuna

listen to what they have experienced with regard to the climate change we scoffed so hard

discuss with them the state of the lands left to them by our conglomerate farming

talk to them about the wisdom of subsidizing the export of our manufacturing

question them on the enduring vision of real estate salesmen and land developers

prompt them about the consequences of ignoring where your food is coming from

feel them out regarding what decisions god should make in a proper government

probe their feelings about which creatures actually possess real souls

listen to their questions about the ratio of paid lobbyists to politicians

ask them why we always spent more on dEfense than all the others put together

get them to list all the benefits of putting a plastic flag decal on an imported car

have them name some old multinationals that inspire their admiration

have them list out the benefits of corporate medicine over family doctors

maybe they can judge our actions not on what remains but by our perceived benefits

determine if they feel that we just stood by as millions died of non-profitable diseases

find out what they hold in honor and see if we used it in our marketing

let any surviving children decide and whoever writes the history be our judges

for we are not about to be stopped in this, our own righteous pursuit of individual happiness

Let Us So Virtuously Abide

and so my dear brothers let us go forth to pollute and to destroy

let us slash and let us burn, let us shop and let us drive giant vehicles all alone

let us consume without care for time everlasting, amen

let us worry not for tomorrow nor for any affairs of the future

yes, my dear brothers let us despoil, let us ruin

let us propagate our own and teach them our ways

and woe unto him who would speak a word to oppose us

verily, my dear brothers, the One True God we have created remains upon our side

let us use him to retain a strict certitude in all of our decisions

go forth my brothers, may you remain ever righteous and angry

and see only what you will in just the way you wish to see it

let us despoil and waste and remain blissfully unaware

let us ignore and rationalize, cast blind eyes and turn deaf ears

let us have no regrets and fear no retribution

let us sow wide aspersions and offend quickly at the smallest slight

let us take dominion over the plants and the animals, the water and the air

let us foul and move on, defile and leave, waste and cynically smirk

let us take our jet skis upon the water, our ATVs over the land,

our snowmobiles on the snow and our SUVs upon the highways

let us call upon the strength and morality

of the forefathers we do not know

let us extol the glories and seek guidance from

the history that we have no need to study

let us contend that our self-centered actions are necessary

for those future generations whose potentials we daily shrink

let us extol our virtues and beat upon our chests

let us trumpet those same self-evidences time and time again

let us be kind to the foreigners though they be simple and abide in darkness

remembering always that we only obey the higher authority we have created

let us reach out our hands for subsidies and dole out expensive favors

while reminding the less fortunate of their personal responsibilities

let us slickly repackage issues into sound bites using clever slogans

but demand concrete certitude of scientists before taking any action

oh, yes, my dear brothers let us recite these catechisms as one

yes, and those who are not with us are most surely our enemies

let us ape and let us parrot, let us not see lest we shame

let us take for ourselves and preach to others of the Golden Rule

Bleeding Heart Coward

I changed my opinion on another important issue again, not too very long ago

I think I might be a gutless wonder who would have us blindly cut and run

Flag burning does not upset me as much as I know in my heart that it should

For some shameful reason, gay marriage does not loom large on my radar

I eat a lot of vegetables and fruit so I probably don’t think quite straight

Sipping green tea instead of Big Gulps has destroyed my masculinity

My hybrid seems real quiet and I don’t even want a hotrod muffler to crank it up

I never even thought of not paying off my credit card bill on time every month

The mere noise of our putative progress perturbs my squishy thinking

I don’t even own a single gasoline-powered form of so-called outdoor recreation

I admit I waste my time, space and energy trying to help out - by foolishly recycling

I really haven’t searched much, at all, for my very own personal Savior to accept

I want people to be nicer to the cows and pigs, but abortion does not inspire me

I foolishly spend more on food marked organic, whatever that word might mean

I suffer from these fantasies about slashing money from our dEfense budget

It even seems to me a tiny hatchback carries groceries more easily than a giant pickup

I often find it difficult to stand by old decisions when I am faced with newer facts

I just can’t escape the delusion that I really don’t have any choice in healthcare

I don’t celebrate my freedom by blowing up things built just to make a lot of bright noise

I, too, interpret my resigned silence as a sign of contemptibly weak and passive acceptance

I often must suspend belief and cannot make a decision due to lack of certainty

I am too frightened to go and kill civilians or be killed by invisible terrorists

Sometimes I get wishy-washy and confused over which one true god is on whose side

I am more concerned with clean air and water than the ten commandments

My thinking has grown fuzzy from considering too many facts and opinions

I guess I really cannot do the math because I can’t ignore so many variables

The pointless carnage makes me ill but still, I’d like for us to see the dead from both sides

I am willing to give them birth control rather than building outsourced prisons

I’m not fat or hypertensive and maybe that’s why I don’t hate the heathens

I don’t happen to believe that a sustainable lifestyle is a threat to my testosterone level

I often try to get out of the way of other drivers who seem to be in a real hurry

I am happy to put the old and/or discontinued back into useful service

I flip-flop among relativistic versions of the everlasting truth

I whimper with trepidation that my beliefs are not handed down from their heaven

I am afraid to chainsaw the remaining forests and drain off all the unproductive wetlands

I often waste time fretting foolishly about overpopulation and habitat destruction

I fear the smart bullets of the men with laser helmets and heavy combat boots

I’m not sure why, but I think I might have reason to worry over my loss of privacy

Quite often I prefer lentil or pea soup to tortured factory beef

I find it difficult to take on evangelical conviction and hard to believe official policy

NASCAR, pro football and Harleys are not among my entertainment favorites

I do not celebrate my newest leased car with overpriced drinks and dinner

I admit that I think it’s just wrong to spend more on weapons than all the other lands combined

I’m not looking for a place in any cemetery much less the honor of Arlington

Suits and ties and project plans and corporate policies seem vainly-artificial to me

I’m frightened of drilling out what oil remains before finding any alternative

I’m too timid and bleeding heart for this Shock&Awe business of preemptive dEfense

Non-point pollution sources like huge parking lots are among the silly concerns of mine

I just don’t see those great new jobs replacing all the off-shored for bonuses positions

I wonder about kids who do not learn, yet do not have time to be children

I wish I, too, could let go of the boreal toads, spotted owls and snail darters

I take little pride in our military strength and do not wish to be the world’s sheriff

I admire dedicated nurses and firefighters but lack trust for greedy developers and lobbyists

I have a recurring vision of an oncoming dark age, should we even survive our merry way there

I lack the stomach for dropping laser-guided bombs on targets I only see on a touchscreen

I am a coward but I would grab a torch and pitchfork to help hang the lawyers

I am against twisting and silencing science to suit a profit-driven, donor industry agenda

My regime would not encourage gambling, subsidize tobacco or promote guzzling gasoline

Foolishly, I worry more about our methods and effects than grabbing all I can, as fast as I can

Timidly from beneath a rock I squeak weakly at the thunderous passing herd

They laugh at me from their SUVs in my beat up old japanese economy car

The clerks shake their heads in disbelief as we reuse tattered grocery bags

I am afraid to refinance my credit card with the vaporous equity from my home

As they say, my squishy agenda has little benefit but costs lots of jobs and far too much money

The trucks downshift noisily and blow smoke as they sneeringly blow by me on my bicycle

Whole families laugh when they make the waves that rock our small canoes

Sadly, it makes no sense to me to drive a 3 ton diesel over to the mall

A small shrill inner voice keeps telling me that Ethanol won’t really help us at all

I selfishly fear for my own rights as we deal with those unlawful combatants

Shortsightedly, I detest abandoned mining sites that resemble old war zones

I catch myself chuckling over this whole Traditional Family Values ad campaign

Why, I even waste time fretting over disappearing frogs and the loss of our songbirds

I foolishly ask what will Jesus say when we leave behind only debts and destruction

They brush me back with their cars as I wimpily walk alongside their roads

I suffer a delusion that agricultural conglomerates are really not our good stewards

They pity us for cashing in those coupons and then cooking meals at home

I whisper that free enterprise need not just reduce to a greed-centric Social Darwinism

I squeak that human numbers far exceed capacity and will soon be corrected naturally

I fear that I would lose my mind should I entrust my soul to Jesus

I waste time poring over maps and considering faroff places that I may never visit

Marketeers despise us and quickly write us off in front of their esteemed investors

I have foolishly determined not to pay a penny to any oily funeral home director

I talk about my economic better’s behind their backs because they do not look me in the eye

Alas, those repeatedly manicured, watered, fertilized & poisoned lawns seem a silly waste of time

I shamefully admit I prefer a short walk rather than a long ride on a noisy ATV

I waste time taking a deep breath with my eyes closed, listening to the gentle rain

I would need powerful drugs to make cookie-cutter convenience stores look like progress

My sandals look weak and stupid but they keep my feet cool & healthy in the summer

I do not share the hate and fear of those whose lands my fellow citizens cannot even find on a map

Sadly, I won’t be charging a facelift, getting botoxed or painting over all my gray

Salads and cereals fill my timid stomach just as well as tubed hamburg and hydrolyzed chips

I suffer a delusion that animals have as many rights and as much soul as, we the people

We remain at home on weekends as others grimly pursue their angry wreckreation

I wander the roadless lands that they contend are inaccessible and non-productive

We are the despised deadbeats who pay off their credit cards every month

Timidly, I second-guess the policies I quietly did not support in the first place

My whispered mention of the single payer healthcare system is derided in their scripted debates

The evocative cry of a wild loon means more to me than some wack cell ringtone

Our reality shows involve nature and science and not witless attention seekers

I waste time making my own bread instead of drinking their soul-free corporate beer

Laughably, I even lament the noise of our progress that forces us to all this shouting

Unbelievably, I would actually take the time and effort to bring back the stars in the night sky

Though quite properly ignored, I suggest that our 2 party system is not constitutionally enshrined

They quickly warn of jobs and money when I mention the mercury in all of our waters & kid’s brains

Childishly I pray for a certain morality to somehow infuse the enshrined greed that drives us

I even support global treaties on chemical warfare, land mines and kid’s rights that we rejected

I am a yellow quitter who never supported our pre-emptive defensive war of liberation

My half-baked ideals blind me to man’s real nature and would put good families at grave risk

I quietly mention a flat tax on emissions to the terrible scorn of tougher citizens

I actually care what my direct ancestors, the Europeans, think of us - Now isn’t that a joke

Softly, and in Spanish, I say to them you should learn to speak English if you live in this country
So you see, as a true bleeding heart coward, I conspire to a squishy & expensive socialist agenda

Breaking Ground Most Toxically

Breaking ground, creating jobs and making progress towards self-destruction

Clawing the face right off of the earth even though it has always nurtured and sustained us

Improving farmlands and meadows with apartments and convenience stores

Moving society nobly forward with bulldozers, graders and excavators

Buy out, build fast and cheap, sell them off quickly, then go do it somewhere else

Breaking ground, this phrase makes so much sense through and through

Shrubs and grasses bulldozed, trees chain-sawed and stumps dynamited

The very living soil abraded, punctured and crudely lacerated

Left open to bleed out without a second thought - into the already-polluted streams

Keep the fuck back now, this is how real men earn the beer that sustains them

Breaking ground it’s called, but it really breaks far more than that

Their belched smoke and noise pollution a mere byproduct of their rending

Their useless bluegrass merely an expensive and poisonous outdoor floor covering

The wastes they generate in so-called construction requires giant dumpsters

We use our big old 4WDs to get into the manly sty we create with our work

Smashing, shattering and breaking the ground so very apt given our lifestyle

The microbial web of life in the soil pulverized, scattered and lateralized

The ground, left naked to crack and gasp, beckons only to weeds and litter

This gospel of development a patriotic offshoot of our biblical interpretation

Take your whining, tree-hugging ass off and go try and live in them woods

Rending and ripping and tearing the ground takes noise and smoke and dust

No more homes for worms or bunnies and ain’t that just too goddamn bad

Our civilization is built upon this lawful and refined scorched earth policy

Then we break more ground for our pickled bodies in those pathetic caskets

How about this, maybe you should just get the fuck out, if you don’t like it

Turning the soil inside out, burying some litter and bringing in rolls of sod

Patriotically shattering the ecosystem with righteous, all-consuming greed

Breaking ground for the real estate speculators and corporate investors

Advancing society today via single-minded scheming to get rich by tomorrow

What the fuck you gonna’ do? Go off and live in some goddamn cave?

Tearing up and selling off the floodplains, fault zones and hurricane paths

Breaking ground on exciting new developments which all look just the same

Making flattened little squares on which the semis can plop the pre-fabs

Excreting sterile geometric wastelands and walking away with lots of money

Hiring the rough and tumble, calloused and hard-edged veterans of destruction

Saving money by cutting corners and burning and burying poisonous debris

Conquering, taming, subduing, subdividing into pathetic uniform little cells

Breaking ground in a struggle to grow rich which destroys that which had sustained us

Consecrating in our dirty clothes with wrappers, power tools and loud radios

Get out of the way or we’ll fuck you up for there’s men's work to be done here

Making ongoing, licensed, protected and sanctified war against the earth

The cunningly greedy hire the hapless Orcs to do their evil, foolish bidding

Breaking ground for the future and leaving vast wastelands for your children

Waltzing off with the big bucks to a life of tasteless, strip-mined so-called luxury

After all what are you going to do, because that’s just how progress works

Proudly pointing to jobs created for those you call the salt of the earth

Breaking ground and sipping a champagne where elk pastures disappear

Buying another ranch sold off due to taxes driven up by their speculative hype

Standing up for hands-off, local control as you move on in and buy them out

Get out of the way, this here is private property and we got a job to do

Breaking ground and overwhelming the small voice in the backs of our heads

Drawing up fairytale artist’s conceptions and surveying with Nazi precision

Calling on the hung-over to do the dirty work and checking on their progress

Corralling investors, paying off officials and complaining about government interference

We need these jobs so just you stay back away from this here equipment

Noisily fucking shit up as a bizarre Country-Western god smiles thru the dust

Sleeping well at night as a far-sighted pillar of the new west community

Breaking ground for more useless second-homes leveraged as investments

Step aside of the excavator as our illegal workers enforce traditional values

We’re looking for an excuse to violence and it may as well be a treehugger

Wise out-of-state developers will bring us local control, jobs and progress at long last

Breaking ground with all the pride taken in a Weapon of Mass Destruction

Cashing in on their major selling points even while destroying them, and then moving on

Looking back with pity on the sad state of your once-proud droppings

I drive this truck 70 miles a day cause I cain’t afford to live where I work

Crudely joking and laughing hoarsely to fill the long and empty working days

Driving potential buyers around and remembering their names all afternoon

Moving our country forward as a bloody but flag-draped jesus nods and points the ways

Let the stupid tree huggers come in later with their sissy shrubs and flowers

Hey, listen, we just don’t give a fuck where this runoff goes

Breaking ground in an ideal realization of our very best from deep down inside

Breaking ground as it grows ever hotter, dustier, noisier and more senseless

Bless us oh lord for these thy gifts which we are about to crudely mutilate in thy name

A few more of these developments and maybe even a Wal*Mart will come in, too

But there’ll be no one to break more ground in far less than a million years

Where Does All That Stuff Go?

where does all our trash go after we take it out and quickly forget it

          where do the poisons come from that foul the precious groundwater

         

where does the smoke go from those great and roaring diesel trucks

          where could that asthma come from in such a cute and cuddly little child

where does our litter go as we drive thoughtlessly on away

          where do these smokers learn to toss their butts so carelessly upon the ground

where do the animals go when we bulldoze away their homes

          where does the pride originate which says we are masters of the earth

where do the blue skies go when the smog grows thick and dark

          where does the money come from to clean up our dirty nest

         

where does all that stuff go that we so quickly pour down our drains

          where does the water come from which we need to drink every day

where do those creatures go we see run over out on the highway

          where do all the rats and roaches come scuttling out from under

where do all these people go when they are no longer young

          where do these young folks come from who cannot read or write

where does the dirty water rush to when hard rains fall upon this dirty concrete

          where do those leopard frogs come from that have too many legs

         

where does the wind blow the sulfur belched from these coal-fired smokestacks

          where do the poisons come from that sicken our sweet maples

where do our dreams go when we glimpse things as they really are

          where do the nightmares come from which seize us by the throats

         

where do the chemicals and fertilizers go after the crops are harvested

          where does the bluegrass come from that only grows in our yards

where do our human wastes end up after we see them out and down

          where does the salmonella come from that makes us feel so sick

where does the oil go when it is washed from the pavement

          where do songbirds come from if their baby’s insect food hatches far too early

where does the glass go when their smashed liquor bottles are not picked up

          where do the perverts come from who make us feel so sick

where does the dust go when the great trucks lift it in the air

          where do the scientists come from who bother us with junk facts

where do the calves go who we see romping every spring

          where do those yummy burgers come from that we munch without a care

         

where do the bunnies go when there is no more soft green grass

          where do the foxes take off to when the bunnies are no more

where do the clouds of smoke go when we must finally look away

          where does the oily and littered dirt come from that grows by the highway

where does the rain go after it stops falling upon our rooftops

          where do the rivers come from to which we owe our lives

where does the innocence go whenever the true violence begins

          where do those angry expressions come from on our beloved sons

         

where does our reason go when we march on off to war

          where does that hatred come from which they feel so strongly for us

where do the leftovers go when we toss them away upon our plastic plates

          where do these extra pounds come from, it must be some mistake

where does the protective diversity go when all our crops have identical genes 

          where do all the hungry people come from in this, our land of plenty

where do our minds actually go as we sit idly flipping channels

          where do these desires come from to keep on buying newer products

where do the teachers go when they have had enough of the bullshit

          where do the nurses come from to replace the burned-out who have to quit

where do the executives go when they have gotten all their phony bonuses

          where does your money come from when you are laid off for good at 50

where do those invisible gases go that spew from our tailpipes

          where does the fuel come from that we guzzle without a thought

where do the polar bears go to hunt when all the ice has melted

          where does the food and water come from for the million born each day

where do those whose way of life does not destroy their world live today

          where does the sense of belonging come from for those who have no homes

Modern Tribal Wisdom

We drew scenes from our trances on cave walls and signed them with our handprints

We worship the flickering images all produced to relieve of us of our money & reason

We thanked the creator and the animals for their sacrifices on our behalf

We build factory slaughterhouses and raise our meat without any mercy or grace

We tried to orient ourselves in our small part of this vast cosmos

Our current set of one true gods set us apart from the earth and all its creatures

We painted ourselves with ochre in patterns derived from mother nature

We encase ourselves within steel and plastic SUV cocoons while spewing toxins

We lived in caves with our dogs and guarded the fire with our lives

We are caught in their artificial cycle of electronically-induced consumption

We were small in number, often moving on, and the land restored itself behind us

We remain trapped in our own wastes by the millions in squalid, unplanned cities

We carved the salmon on the cedar and tried to find our own spirit creature

Our holidays have been disinfected by religion and co-opted by marketeers

Many of us died hunting the wooly mammoth and the giant cave bear

Injured former would-be athletes lay broken on soft couches, loudly gaining weight

We clashed with other tribes and mated with their women

We kill to demonstrate the moral superiority of our own loving & merciful god

We knew the cycles of the moon and the march of the seasons

Many among us never notice the weather until we’re forced to walk to our cars in the rain

In our potlatches we strived for status by giving away as much as we could

We pass by the homeless every day with our windows up and damn their lazy poverty

We carved totem poles that told the spirit stories of our clans

They make millions on our co-opted allegiance to empty corporate sports franchises

We solemnly left mother in the snow when she could walk no more

Grandma is drugged & abused by a variety of misfits in her warehouse nursing home

Each of us knew the history and all the legends of our ancestors and tribe

We dismiss that which happened over ten years ago as irrelevant & stupid ancient history

Our innate wastefulness was safely diluted by the fact of our small numbers

Now, we can despoil even the vast oceans and upset the very climate of the earth

We cataloged the plants for food, medicine and healing for a hundred thousand years

We pick cans off shelves by their pictures since we can’t quite read their labels

Life was hard and we knew by example that we must all die quite young

We spend billions trying hopelessly to restore a youth we wasted so long ago

We cuddled up and dreamed away the long Ice Age nights in communal shelters

We are chronically tired from working by our unwavering mechanical clocks

  

Our individual survival depended upon the success of our little group

Men sit drinking all alone in cheap, tiny rooms beneath dingy naked light bulbs

Specialized knowledge was accumulated and passed down in our arts and crafts

Disposable workers are worked long hours at degrading, low-paid tasks to profit others

Everything we tossed aside was native to the landscape, in any case

We spread our exotic toxins in far greater volumes than the earth can absorb

Leadership was recognized but assumed with humility and respect

Today’s managers scale the corporate ladder by ass kissing, sucking up and kicking down

The deformed, weak, sick and crippled quickly re-entered the spirit realm

We nurture the handicapped and rush to transform the human world in their image

We named the brilliant constellations and had stories about them all

Our lights have hidden the stars and our creation myth is old and stale

Our sturdy clothing came from things that we hunted, gathered and traded

Today we wear the identical products of massive mindless far-off wage slavery

As we wandered we often grew wet, cold, tired and very dirty

A few of us enjoy unlimited hot showers but so many lack clean drinking water & toilets

Our shamans were judged by the accuracy of their wisdom and knowledge

Advertising-controlled corporate media tells smarmy spin doctors exactly what to preach

We feasted on the sweetness of wild fruits and berries in their times

We gorge daily on sugar, salt and chemical flavorings fried up in fatty industrial oils

We forded at known safe places only when the water was not too high

We’ve channelized and sucked the diverted rivers dry after removing their sheltering trees

Everyone knew the stories of each and every member of our band

We live in a sea of strangers that tosses restlessly 24x7 just outside our locked doors

The legends we passed on required the imagination and memory of the listeners

Our entertainment is mindless, violent, sexual and created just to sell us things

The smart and the strong led the hunt and made the kills

Our generals plot from boardroom safety far away from the front lines

We marked the turning of the seasons with rites unique to our sacred places

Now time passes to the rhythm of artificial corporate retail holiday hype

We had no concept of owning any of the sacred lands we walked

Patriotic developers chop up vast parcels of that heritage to sell us little pieces of implanted dreams

Each of us could detail his lineage going back many, many generations

We cannot find on maps the places where our grandparents were supposedly born

Children grew strong in lives spent outside in the untouched & pristine surroundings

We raise our offspring indoors, drugged, chemically supplemented and nurtured electronically

After All This Progress

Where will we be?

After all the tigers have nowhere left to roam or hunt

They then become a menace and can be removed without a trace of guilt

After all the rhinos have stubbornly given up their lovely ivory horns

Oriental men will have to find another way to attain their magical erections

After all the elephants must be bred only in captivity

bull sperm will be harvested mechanically and the musty creatures drugged

After all the relevant decision-making is done by god-fearing neo-cons

we can search with lights in daytime for what they left behind as worthy of conserving

After everyone has all the guns they need but little food and there are no jobs

then it's time to send out our drugged child soldiers to clean up the countryside

After all the pigs and cows and chickens are manufactured like TV sets

At least this absurd and disgusting state has left our sanctimonious morality intact

After all the old growth trees are cut and shipped off overseas

there will be no logging jobs left and no reason for tourists to visit and to spend

After all the mighty tuna have vanished from the bluest ocean depths

we can try to convince ourselves that in god’s plan there is no need to miss them

After all our cows are made safe from natural predators on federal lands

we can clone them even stupider, fatten them faster and sell them cheaper

After all the salmon are raised in filthy pens using colors chosen off of salesman paint chips

they will be better suited for packaging in modern plastics beneath the bright lights

After all the solitary orangutans have no more deep forest refuges

they must adapt to any zoo lives that we might care to give them

After all the rivers are simply grimy, stinking channels for our wastes and toxic runoff

we are surely safe from disruptive floods until the end of our time

After all the wild grizzlies run out of places they can dominate alone

we will save just their genes, for they will not tolerate lives of captivity

After all the ice melts for good and seals always surface in open water

the polar bears can sit wasting away quietly on the shore for a while

After all the trout caught come dumped straight from hatchery trucks

all the remaining so-called anglers get all the adventure that they deserve

After all the jaguars lose their territories to slashing and burning urban refugees

it's simply pointless not to drain and settle the rest of their one-time jungle

After all the mountain valleys are accessible by wheelchairs, ATVs and dirt bikes

we really should bid out themed strip malls at the end of every trail

After all the songbirds have been mysteriously gone for many years

loud mufflers may be a comfort in a new and strange and uncomfortable silence

After all the frogs stop their friendly croaking during summer evenings

we will shortly realize that we never really needed them in any case

After all the coral reefs are bleached, dynamited and poisoned quite long ago

it is simply one less pointless eco-issue over which they will still have to argue

After all the small sanctuaries fill with roads and stores and homes

at least that mindless and frenetic pace of change must finally begin to slow

After all the resources have been plundered, transported and consumed

we will hand carry our water in a wasteland we are too poor to even try and heal

After all the snow that falls is simply lousy with fire retardants and such

we can scold our little children as they try to catch the flakes upon their tongues

After all the forests become simple assets on corporate balance sheets

they will finally begin to pay their way in freedom’s scheme of things

After all the costly giant hardwoods are cut down and hauled away

it then makes a lot of sense to simply slash and burn and grade the rest

After all the land is paved over and plotted out by giant yellow caterpillars

the rains can wash our unchecked, oily residues straight into the streams

After all the quiet, unspoiled places fill with noise and smoke and litter

wackos can then search elsewhere for the peace that once filled the air

         

After all the wildlife is driven off, shot, burnt out or poisoned

the roaches, rats, mosquitoes and flies will remain behind to comfort us

After all the kids have brains full of lead and mercury and lungs full of diesel fumes

Welfare mothers need not worry that the rich have all of the advantages

After all the native plants are extinguished by rapacious invasive weeds

good old weak and thirsty, non-native bluegrass will seem like a damn fine thing

After all the factories are abandoned and their jobs sent overseas

who can still afford the cheaper imports at the new Wal*Mart right next door

After all the engineering is outsourced to geeky losers off in foreign lands

our poor children need not learn their stupid math or junky science anymore

After the only jobs are with the government and poverty is the norm

we will live as those far away had done before our jobs went over there

After all the smarter people simply give up on having children

who will pay for the schools and where will the teachers come from

After all the western highways offer corporate fast food every couple miles

we can marvel in sterile safely at the untamed beauty of the desert skies

After all the rivers carry only chemicals, grease, sewage and fertilizer for years

The times will be less contentious because no one will remember any different

After all the oil is gone and commerce comes grinding to a depressionary halt

it will then be quite pointless and far too late to lay the blame on politicians or Big Oil

After all of Africa casts off its racist, extractive, corrupt and colonial legacies

pigs will flutter off like puffy butterflies upon their newly-sprouted wings

After all our days are squandered and we haven't even had time to read our bills

we will saddle any generations yet to come with a heavy long-term debt from birth