Exposed

This poem was written within a month of the incidents of 09.11.01 in the U.S. It was written with the assumption, long since disappeared from the author, that those who crafted the events of that day are whom the American government would have us believe:

exposed

we were

we have been

we are

will we learn?

or will we continue trying

to force our will

--unwanted--

our politics

--unnecessary--

our threats

--unheeded--

our ideas

--unsympathetic--

our beliefs

--unessential--

on people and cultures

ill-disposed or -inclined

to accept them?

will we learn when to help or aid

and NOT to interfere?

or will we always follow up our good intentions

with OUR agenda?

Innocents

(and innocence)

have been lost, on our own soil,

a tragedy and injustice, perhaps,

but no more so than what

we dole out to the world all too frequently.

do we deserve to seek justice?

maybe,

but not at the expense of other

innocents

(and innocence)

who will pay for our wrathful vengeance.

american innocence suffered because,

if you believe the party line,

others who are allegedly against our "way of life"

sought vengeance,

not justice.

"we" claim ours to be a superior

morality and culture

just as "they" claim theirs to be.

so, where is the difference

between *us* and

those we demonize?

or between those we

expose

and those who

exposed

us?