reduction of the “hero”

sees him on television

marching in the shows that

glorify war by painting so-called

“heroism,” as anything but

being hired killers.

 

sees her in the advert prior to

the violence ridden film, when

the life of a soldier in the

american military comes with

a rock song behind it &

a pastiche of bringing clean

water, holding babies, smiling

with their thumbs up &

palling around for photo ops

with those lucky people afar

(who’ve been left poor, starving

& eradicated by the pummeling

which they took at the hands

of the world’s policeman,

because they just wouldn’t

give up their resources to the

planned rape in return for

“democracy’),

thinking

“oh, what a romantic way to

show love for my country &

get money for college so I

can make something of myself.”

 

gets support from brainwashed

family & friends

(who are still terrified that their

loved one is going away to kill &

be a target for those who are sick

of policeman showing up on their

doorstep to kill),

looks sexy in a uniform

(ooh la la),

feels that they are more brave &

more patriotic than those around

them, who will not sign on the

dotted line, who will not

“fight for their country” (digesting

that last complete confusion of

priorities, leaving those who love

her/him to go & kill for the state that

has kept them poor to begin with).

 

what happens on the tour

stays on the tour &

don’t think for a second that you

won’t be going back---

as property of the policeman of the

world, you have obligations

&

when you come home,

you end up working as an overnight

clerk,

at a Pathmark in New Jersey,

no more a “hero” than the kid stoned

out of his gourd,

stocking the shelves with soup cans

on his knees in aisle 12.

 

so you leave work,

get your AK-47 &

your .45 caliber handgun

as quick as possible,

so that when you return

you can randomly open fire on your

coworkers 16 times or so,

before putting a gun to your own

head---

lucky that the military had been there

for you, in your time of need,

reeling you in when you were young,

so it could teach you to

kill.