"Seriously" & "Pop Culture Propaganda"

Below the fold: "Pop Culture Propaganda".

Seriously
by Carl Nyberg

If I could ask American men one Q
Why did you let the system
Cut off you balls?
Seriously

You know you're losing ground
And you blame the Blacks?
The Mexicans?
Seriously

The liberals gave up on integration
Blacks overwhelmingly live
Segregated and unequal
Seriously

You're gonna blame the Mexicans
Doing shitty jobs
At shitty wages
For keeping you down?
Seriously

Instead of fighting for your families
You blame people
Who aren't the problem

And you wonder why
No one respects you
Hell, you don't respect yourselves
Seriously

"Robots Killing Men"

The poem below the fold needs work. I would like some feedback on which ideas and metaphors work for you.

What should be salvaged in the next attempt at wrestling with remote controlled weapons?

"Thoreau Hawks Viagra On TV" and "Nagasaki Chinese Restaurant"

Henry David Thoreau Hawks Viagra On TV 
by Carl Nyberg 

Dear American male, 
Maybe your're impotent 
Because you've gone from 
Quiet desperation 
To cowering for a paycheck 
For ripping someone off 

"Leverage To Move the World" and "First Night in Phnom Penh"

Who Wants the World Moved? or Leverage To Move the World by Carl Nyberg

Archimedes said,
Give me a long enough lever
And a fulcrum on which to place it
And I will move the world
I respond
Give me a compelling enough metaphor
And a fulcrum on which to place it
And I too will move the world

"America Sucked Dry" & “'Real Americans'”

"America Sucked Dry" by Carl Nyberg

America,
Why should your politicians
Or anyone else
Respect you?
You choose to be lied to
To avoid challenging
Those with power
And to avoid
Questioning
Your national myths
And bullshit stories
You deserve to be
Sucked dry by the
Banks and
Corporations
Maybe then
They will give you
Another war
So you can feel good
About yourselves again

"Impasse of Narrative" and "Samuel Johnson On USS Independence (CV-62)"

"Samuel Johnson On USS Independence (CV-62)" by Carl Nyberg
"A ship is just a prison
"With the possibility of drowning"
I was explaining the idea to
The Japanese contractor
When the ship's engineer overheard
"Left-handed Academy grad"
The senior chief called him
The engineer failed to appreciate the humor
Or maybe he did
And the authority bestowed
Kept him from laughing

"I Don't Need God To Judge" & "Maggie Thatcher Died Today"

 Below the jump are two poems: "I Don't Need God To Judge" and "Maggie Thatcher Died Today".

Let me know the pieces and aspects you like. I'll try to build on them. Let me know the details you can't stand.

I write to express myself, but I also want to make my work good for the reader.

two poems: DUI Cheney & Interpretation Matters

DUI Cheney 
by Carl Nyberg

Dick Cheney didn't wear green 
He didn't wear blue 
Asked about Vietnam 
He had better things to do 

Coward Hall of Fame

Coward Hall of Fame

by Carl Nyberg

I nominate John Forbes Kerry

For the Coward Hall of Fame

The man who asked,

"How do you ask a man to be

"The last to die for a mistake?"

Became the politician who voted for the mistake

Iraq was not an "imminent threat"

Bush lied

The lie was obvious

But Kerry thought he needed to prove himself

To get elected President

What did he have to prove?

To whom?

He showed me who he was

More ambitious than honorable

John Forbes Kerry had the opportunity

To speak against the mistake

But his ambition to be President

To represent the military contractors

To the people

Was too great

A hole in his soul

A man without honor

I nominate John Forbes Kerry

To the Coward Hall of Fame

introduction and four poems: Truth, Machine and Thank You For Your Service I & II

My name is Carl Nyberg. I'm a Navy veteran, 1985-96 who was recently invited to contribute to this blog.

I am from Chicago. I participated in the Warriors Writers workshop held at University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee on April 6 led by Lovella & Michael. (Thanks for the ride, Sabrina.)

Since attending the workshop I have found myself writing poems. I'm thankful that I've been invited to contribute to this blog. I hope to get some useful feedback on poems.

• Which are as good as they are going to get?
• Which can be improved?
• Which have pieces that should be salvaged?
• Which metaphors work?
• Which should be kept personal?

Below the fold are some that came from the workshop directly.

An amazing residency in the Twin Cities

Hey all,
We had an incredible week at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. We cannot thank them and the community enough. Welcome to the new Warrior Writers and Combat Papermakers and the supportive community in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Soon, I will post pictures and hopefully even video. We even got a new webmaster out of the deal, thanks John!
Here is a piece I wrote on our borrowed typewriter on Thursday, our first morning with our new friends...

uniforms and girlhood pinks
tangle, intersect
we dissect our trauma
over scissors, poems
and wet paper
this is our history
and we are our futures
now woven together


So now, since I've kept you waiting on a new exercise (most of you haven't been writing anyway, tsk tsk) here we go with a new one. I'll give you only a topic.

Objects of obsession

now get to writing,
Lovella