...the devil's in the details...

war is an interesting type of hell because it has a devil on either side
where both opposing parties take pride in the amount that have died
and human life doesn't fit into the equation
these invasions aren't just a summation of body counts and property damage
if we can't manage this ravaged mindset, we're all fucking dead
in our hearts if not in practice
what we preach to our kids is that the other side is wrong
they're not really humans and they just don't belong on the face of the planet
damnit, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy
because hate breeds hate, I'm sorry to say

religious fervor and political boundaries only teach us to see other human beings as the enemy
and I'd love to break away from rhyming schemes but it seems like it's the only way to be heard
so listen up, folks: these goddamned arguments are absurd

how can a family have any dignity or pride while being Occupied?
and believe it or not, your freedom will be put on a waiting list if you don't agree that your rivals have a right to exist

if the Turks and Armenians can set aside their differences and mend broken fences, what's keeping the rest of you lot from coming together? I hear the Ottoman Empire was a real bastard out and out
they'd tear your tongue from your mouth for breathing a word of foreign prose
and the devil knows, the details are what sometimes keep us apart

but it's not too late to rectify the complaints of 1968
if we let go of our hate and bigotry and try to see
even our greatest enemies as human beings

...concessions...

we're all expected to concede once in awhile, aren't we?
the First Amendment (breathing free speech) and the FCC directly compete violently with each other
while national security and the Fourth have yet to settle their score
and the premise of it all got bitch-slapped in a 5-4 on the supreme court
and I know the Fourteenth had such honest and pure intentions
but it got hijacked by callous fucks and invented corporations
...in fairness, by accident
and prone we are all to needing to make concessions
that's why we have so many fucking amendments
(one per generation, except for our own...)

but there seems to be one relatively unscathed despite how many untimely graves we're forced to watch being dug up and prepared on a weekly basis, and the very stasis of the situation seems every bit as perilous as those the government decide are terrorists (that I do admit [though not to their extent] exist)
but this persists
a blister, a bloody, hairy, disgusting cyst on an otherwise beautiful document that has allowed the armament to obscene degrees
do you think people who could only reload one bullet per minute could see
just what these words would mean
in the grand scheme of things?

no, that's why at the very beginning we all agreed there would be a time that we would need to make some goddamn concessions
to lay down some sexy amendments

and mend the nasty contusions
of a more perfect union

we'll write a post-it-note and hope no one forgets it
and Clarence Thomas doesn't reject it
all I'm asking for
is a new Amendment

... I bet you didn't know Jesus is my Hero

I've been spending so much time doing unto others and turning the other cheek
that I've lost the fundamental argument levied by false followers of Christianity
and all I seek, I profess, is for us to progress past our own self-sustaining needs
to be able to practice what we preach and actually help the emaciated eat
I know I sound like a hippy, but...

Your own very Savior had a few things to say about the realities of today and the fact that scarcity exists
And his truth persists
That the cunning and morally flawed will seek to extract and withdraw exactly what they believe was always theirs in the first place
They'll use hate to divide and conquer and squander human holes in logic and philanthropy to succeed
and greed is the only universal truth
they always knew they use this fact to launch attacks against our own best interests

I bet they're betting on our own demise
to trade in a derivative game to add digits and figures to their bank balances
our own talents are being used in backwards fashion
to separate us from any hope to move forward
turning us into Uroboros- a self-devouring dragon

The profit motive is much stronger than anyone could have imagined
Had a framework for a more perfect nation, what the fuck  happened
to our ability to rise above to the current societal needs?
to strengthen our core and rise above the incomplete
assessments of what we should collectively be?
a shining beacon of humanity

I don't know for sure if Christ ever existed
But he's my hero without doubt
The crimes of life will always persist
Can't speak his truths so I'll shout

...please consider everything, every set of eyes comes with an unknown truth
and maybe if you just listened, you might come to terms with something new

ask me for *my* birth certificate, i goddamn dare you

The only thing on which my parents could ever agree

was that I was to be named after Amerigo Vespucci 

after that, the settlements and similarities ended

Then they revolted, through blood and ink, against my grandfather

threw shackles on my son and oppressed my neglected my daughter

generations later, my kin haven't fully mended

and my parents have been at it, one hand from the right, one from the left, since I was born. they've been arguing for so long at this point that neither side could ever admit to the other that even a fraction of their premise could possibly be right. it's like admitting you've been cheating on your significant other, if you don't fess up to wrong-doing within the first week, it's never going to happen.

the tensions have built up for too long now, the wine-infused fight raged on past the point of even remembering where the fulcrum of the dispute slipped askew

with the hope for resolution being dashed away by lawyers on either side of this parental fight

and 'heads' and 'tails' too involved in their own game of taking potshots and scoring points, banning anal sex while selling joints

it's all become white noise to me

I thought once your folks got divorced, you were supposed to double-up on presents during holidays

instead mine fight over where I'm to eat dinner and which denomination of their specific spiritual sect I'm going to write in salutation on thank-you cards,

"Dear Haliburton,

thank you this year for no-bid contracts,

and I hope your Christ's Mass is a fucking blast"

-or-

"Hello, Trader Joes,

I hope you know how much I love your overpriced selection of organic apples,

may them candles burn EVEN more than eights days

as long as that's not sacrilegious for me to say"

and instead of spending money on me

(my shoes are falling apart

i can't afford a decent education

and there are potholes all down my street)

they took all their collected pennies

and bankrupt the entire fucking neighborhood

poisoned the water supply, tore down the traffic lights

just to prove their side was right

they've even gone so far as to air commercials on Superbowl Sunday against each other

lobbied attacks with such hostile ad-hominem tempestuous energy

that agreeing at this point in time would resemble suicide more than compromise 

because the bickering has become such an intrinsic part of my parent's makeup

that letting go of their hate for one another would be more like identity loss to them

than an act of love for me

Amerigo Vespucci lent me his name

then my authors left me to waste

it feels too late
to suture up this laceration
unless, that is
my architects go on vacation
from tearing everything we built asunder
is that possible now?
one's left to hope and wonder

it's never too late
it's never too late
to relax your chest
and open up your ribs
and upchuck the hate