A Sixties Radical Rants

by Wilson Roberts

Goddamn
we had wild ideas
beautiful ideas
like the night
Sandy and I
crept into
the ROTC office
at State
planted a bomb
under
the Commandant's desk
blew everything
to shit smithereens
the sparks lit
the registrar's building
we danced
around
the flames chanting
about LBJ and
murdered
Vietnamese children
their skin covered
with burning jelly
their eyes wild
their arms wide
running naked down
highways
fleeing American boys
with guns
she said
oh Bobby oh
wrapping herself
around me
in revolution
ary passion

And we bought
guns
traded guns
hid guns
dreamed guns
blathered stoned
and fervently
about ammo
and muzzle velocity
plotting
the revolution
against Amerika
with a K
with our socialist
libertarian fuck
the establishment
tie dyed free love
hard rock dope smoking
mescaline brilliant
ecstatic purple owsley
head tripping vision
of the cosmos

Goddamn
that was fine

Then Kent State
Orangeburg
the Panthers
dead in
their pooled blood
Chicago   Chicago
that wonderful town
and Sinatra
won a Grammy
and Nixon
and Kissinger
and Ford
and Carter
and Reagan
and Bush
and Clinton
and Bush
their world surrounded
us

We settled
for what we found
loved our children
did our jobs
discovered
ulcers
Volvos
mortgages
and PTAs
and gardens
and lives
loved our dogs
our grandchildren
sunrise
in the country
evenings
by the stove
the odor
of apple wood
rising in soft curls
from our chimneys

Goddamn
where are the
guns
who has the
guns
and bombs
now
The christers have them
The rednecks have them
The militias have them
I think they are
planning revolution
I am afraid
they will burn our lives
The christers
The rednecks
The militias

Goddamn
the beer besotted
raving bastards
with their wild ideas
their evil ideas

The fucking
bastards!
They're going
to ruin
everything