LIVING IN THE FOURTH REICH

LIVING IN THE FOURTH REICH

By Gary Steven Corseri

In the Third Reich we said
We were just following orders.
Today we say,
We’re just doing our job.

In the Third Reich
We were anti-Semitic.
(We hated the Jews.)
In the Fourth Reich
We are anti-Semitic.
(We hate the Arabs.)

In the Third Reich
We had our Minister of Information.
Goebbels said
If you tell a lie big enough
And often enough
People believe it.

In the Fourth Reich
We have Corporate Media.
We get 24-7 lies
Interspersed with commercials.

In the Third Reich
We had sturm und drang.
In the Fourth Reich
We have shock and awe.

In the Third Reich
We said Poland was a threat
And we made an alliance
with that Communist Stalin.
In the Fourth Reich
We say Iran is a threat
And we make an alliance
With that terrorist in Uzbekistan.

In the Third Reich
We had “democracy,”
We elected our national leader.
In the Fourth Reich
We have “democracy,”
We elect our national leader.

In the Third Reich
We despised the French.
In the Fourth Reich
We eat Freedom Fries.

In the Third Reich
Good Germans didn’t know
What was going on
In the concentration camp down the road.
In the Fourth Reich
Good Americans don’t care
About torture at Guantanamo.

The Third Reich wrapped itself
In a dark kind of religious symbolism.
We put Gott mit uns on our SS buckles.
In the Fourth Reich we wrap ourselves
In dark religious symbolism.
Our generals say, Kill one for Jesus.

In the Third Reich
We incinerated the body of der Fuhrer.
In the Fourth Reich
He has risen from the ashes.

© Copyright 2005 by AxisofLogic.com

Gary Steven Corseri’s dramas have been published, and broadcast over PBS-Atlanta; his prose and poems have appeared at/in Axis of Logic, The New York Times, Village Voice, Redbook, Sky, Georgia Review, CommonDreams, CounterPunch, DissidentVoice and over 100 other periodicals and e-zines. He has published two poetry collections and two novels, has taught in public schools and prisons in the U.S., and at universities in the U.S. and Japan. He edited the Manifestations anthology in 2004. His Manifestations anthology has been a desktop friend of mine and a regular visitor to my New Hampshire refuge since it was first published. You can purchase a copy by sending an email to: dcartsatmindspring.com. Mr. Corseri can be reached at: corseriatcomcast.net.

Additional essays and poetry by Gary Steven Corseri

Axis of Logic in Poetry

The Whore Named War

Interview with Munch’s "The Scream"

Searching for Democracy

Missed Opportunties: Chomsky, Demonstrations, and How Progressives Lose

Chainsaw Rummy’s Gotta Go

Rumsfeld’s Defense

The Six Best Reasons Not To Vote

Basho in Vermont

Cranes

Aunt Gianetta, at 80

Whitman Recidivist

That Fool Bird

My Jesus can whup your Jesus!

Courtesy of Les Blough, Editor Axis of Logic

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