Premeditated Amnesia 1

For nothing here is old, save for deep layers
Of moss and muck and mouldering remains
Civilisations lit by visions and fire
Now lost beneath a Wal-Mart Parking lot

Incuriously the tentacles of Now
Slither more deeply into the pale past
And churn up yet another housing estate
At the corner of Kingsford Lane and Heather Way

Near the Motorcycle Church, for piston prayers:
For nothing here is old, save for deep layers





1”The U.S. is probably the contemporary world’s purest example of a society which is perpetually trying to abolish history, to avoid thinking in historical terms, to associate dynamism with premeditated amnesia.” -Alexander Woodside quoted by Susan Sontag:

https://bostonreview.net/susan-sontag-interview-geoffrey-movius?utmsource=Boston+Review+E­mail+Subscribers&utmcampaign=b581739691-EMAILCAMPAIGN201808170417COPY01&utmmedium=email&utmterm=0_2cb428c5ad-b581739691-41080789

I was here first.
     *I seriously doubt that,
     but, for the sake of argument,
     let's say you were,
     here first.
     So?
     I was here second.
     This isn't a race.

The impoverished wasteland
That keeps you from changing the world
Will never be your home

Not if I'm here

You don't know how much people will try
To drive you away
To keep you ''where you belong''
A waiting place

The place I so desperately fear

Not for me; I'm not one of ''them''
But you are; according to the authorities
I can hide: we don't have race wars here
But how can you avoid it if the government perpetuates it?

I nearly shed a lone tear

The Canadian Ghetto
It's where you're destined to stay
If they, we, I let you fall
If the people convince you you're inferior


But you have nothing to fear.

I'll won't stop making you
                                                Braver
      ­                                           Smarter
                                                   Stronger
                                                     Aware

And when all is said and done
And they've taken your ability to give a ****
You still won't surrender

And I'll shed a joyous tear.