Snoopy, kewpie, Barbie, Ken,
Chicken-licken, Hen-len,
Can’t compete with Adrienne.
Andrew Jackson, William Penn?
“Bolero”, “Arthur”, “Tarzan”, “Ten”?
Not a patch on Adrienne.
My Adrienne’s a honey:
She’s witty, pretty, funny:
looks great in silks and satins
and mixes mean Manhattans.
Tagus, Tiber, Severn, Seine,
zloty, sous, sestertii, yen -
I prefer my Adrienne.
Armstrong, Aldrin, Colonel Glenn?
Zoroaster? Zion? Zen?
Think I’ll stick with Adrienne!
Poor soldier Andrew Jackson who
Attacked the British after peace
Was signed three weeks before at Ghent.
Unnecessary bravery
Is no less admirable for that.
He waves to patrons eating their
Beignets at the Café Du Monde.
Astride a horse, saluting with
His bicorn hat, and stern of face,
He looks less menacing than if
They cast him brandishing a sword.
But who can blame his victory
(Redundant though his conquest was),
The English might have occupied
The Crescent City, New Orleans.
Between Lake Ponchatrain and Gulf
Of Mexico the land is boggy here.
Once rains would pelt Orleans and make
A flood enough for fetid pools.
Pine coffins bobbed and knocked aloud
Discouraging the patronage
Of all the working girls for weeks.
But that was long before the war.
And British and Americans
Were mostly buried on high ground.
So no unnecessary dead
Were ever disinterred by rains
And washed some parishes away
Without their names on coffin lids
To now or ever be reclaimed.
politician
curses Andrew Jackson
lives on stolen land
Andrew Jackson drank a lot of whiskey
With the Injuns, he was a bit frisky
He shot up a few
Sliced others in two
Today he might find that a tad risky
Cherokee Tears
ceremonial drums' rhythmic heartbeat
impassioned tribal chants
echo in Smoky Mountain mist before dawn
tortured spirit of an ignoble president
Andrew Jackson seems imprisoned here
haunted by wailing ghosts of tribe members
too old to meet Jackson's mandate
rise up, carry all you own
except your memories, your hopes
abandon graves of your ancestors
trek the "Trail of Tears" to a barren land
restless are the rising souls
natives who passed the pipe, welcomed whites
campers still report sightings
spirits walking and wailing from dusk till daybreak
specters bearing blood-spattered treaties
mingle in the Smoky Mountain mist
created by Cherokee tears
*Written November 20, 2018
For Line Gauthier's "Tribute to Native Cultures"
The ruling party's eternal line: Warriors brightly shine,
Their battlefield triumphs necessarily fine.
Yet crown them as statesmen, heroics diminish,
Often resulting in ignominious finishes.
Caesar defeated Pompey, returning home to cheers,
Ambition rent them on 'kind Brutus' dagger of tears.
George Washington led America in battle victorious,
Before fathering scores of slave-offspring inglorious.
Andrew Jackson cut down Indian raiders -- so daring and risky,
Fueled by his addiction to grain alcohol whiskey.
Up San Juan Hill Teddy Roosevelt's Horsemen did charge,
As roughly as into the White House he later did barge.
***************
And now that military heroes no longer become Presidents--
Only foibles and flaws distinguish current Oval Office residents.
If Washington came back to life
I wonder how he’d feel
To be pictured on a quarter
And a dollar bill – surreal!
Abe Lincoln, too, would bust a gut
If he became alive,
To see his visage plastered
On a penny and a five.
And Alexander Hamilton,
If he could live again,
Would love the play about him
And his picture on the ten.
Had Andrew Jackson ditched his grave,
He’d likely argue plenty
About his image front and center
On our nation’s twenty.
Ben Franklin, though, would be real proud
If he came back to earth,
To find out that a hundred dollar bill
Proclaims his worth.
McKinley’s portrait graces
Money that we rarely use.
(I’ve never even seen that bill –
Five hundred smackeroos!)
Poor Jefferson, despite his wealth
And all he got to do,
Unfortunately got his mug
On the elusive two!
The pictures on our currency
Have long been set in place.
Thank goodness or our current prez
Would swap ‘em for his face.
'We don't like to look our kill in the face'
......Greg Palast
'The problem is, Corporations have neither
bodies to kick nor souls to be damned'
......Andrew Jackson
Human emotion will be diminished, too messy.
Trans humanism is a creeping chokeweed.
Goggles will be required to view reality
as perceived by shareholders, corporate
pollinators are seeding their outcomes
directly into your brain. 'I remember when
free thought (the good) was individual
choice' We will wistfully explain to our
grandchildren.
I take my instruction from natural rights,
Awake, am I, and in control of my rightful,
equal place in the universe. Why are people
dying here? This is my life, and your free
life too. Life, all life, is precious and equal.
This is the message I receive from interplanetary
beings...sacred, are we, and we know this
to be true, we the people will open the doors
to outer space, and take our rightful place.
No anonymous, faceless Corporation will
take my freedom......join me.
10/13/16
The Trail Where They Cried
Following the wooded trail;
Fainted footprints I traced.
Embedded in the dirt and shale;
Of ancestors who were displaced.
The wind blew cold and mournfully;
As tears streamed from my eyes.
I cursed Andrew Jackson most scornfully;
Wishing the history I could revise.
Shadows linger in the mist;
Forever in solemn despair.
Of an ancient race not allowed to exist;
And I, their humble heir.
The sadness on the Trail of Tears;
Permeates and lingers still.
Speaks volumes of cruelties austere;
Man's law against Creator's will.
Should we forget the place where they cried;
And just get over the past.
And once more trust a government that lied;
We become our own downcast.
Ask that not of me;
To forget my ancestor's genocide.
Or to dismiss this country's history;
When the truths are still denied.
When their stories are finally told;
And privileged bias has decreased.
When men no longer worship oil and gold;
My peoples can rest in peace.
American green
The tree of life gave birth to a nation and these men who helped nature
shape it. The father of our Country George Washington the 1st President.
There is Thomas Jefferson author of the Declaration of Independence.
There's ol' Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation
he enforced, and Alexander Hamilton the first Secretary of Treasury
and most famous dueler of course. What about Andrew Jackson the Indian
remover and election winner but loser, or Ulysses S. Grant victorious Union
General, boring President. Next is William McKinley Spanish-American War
winner and assassination receiver. Don't forget Grover Cleveland only man to
be elected president, then lose, then get elected again. Our third President
James Madison who fathered our Constitution and a guy named Salmon Chase
but ambition killed him. Last on this list Mr. Woodrow Wilson who brought us into
and out of World War I, that was fun...Do you yet see these men's commonality?
They are the faces of our wealth for they are all money green...
Andrew Jackson, people's president,
A drop out from school environment,
At voting campaigns,not a statement,
"Vote me,ok,ok " said he,in infant's jargon,
Voted people, ok, and voted Jackson!