War Profit Litany
To Ezra
These are the names of the companies that have made money from this warnineteenhundredsixtyeight Annodomini fourthousand eighty
These are the Corporations who have profited by merchan- dising skinburning phosphorous or shells fragmented to thousands of fleshpiercing needlesand here listed money millions gained by each combine for manufactureand here are gains numbered, index'd swelling a decade, set in order,here named the Fathers in office in these industries, tele- phones directing finance,names of directors, makers of fates, and the names of the stockholders of these destined Aggregates,and here are the names of their ambassadors to the Capital, representatives to legislature, those who sit drinking in hotel lobbies to persuade,and separate listed, those who drop Amphetamine with military, gossip, argue, and persuadesuggesting policy naming language proposing strategy, this done for fee as ambassadors to Pentagon, consul- tants to military, paid by their industry:and these are the names of the generals & captains mili- tary, who know thus work for war goods manufactur- ers;and above these, listed, the names of the banks, combines, investment trusts that control these industries:and these are the names of the newspapers owned by these banksand these are the names of the airstations owned by these combines;and these are the numbers of thousands of citizens em- ployed by these businesses named;and the beginning of this accounting is 1958 and the end 1968, that static be contained in orderly mind, coherent and definite,and the first form of this litany begun first day December 1967 furthers this poem of these States.
Allen Ginsberg
Other author posts
I Am a Victim of Telephone
When I lie down to sleep dream the Wishing Well it ringsHave you a new play for the broken down theater When I write in my notebook poem it ringsBuster Keaton is under the Brooklyn bridge on Frankfurt and Pearl Wh...
Hospital Window
At gauzy dusk, thin haze like cigarette smoke ribbons past Chrysler Building's silver fins tapering delicately needletopped, Empire State's taller antenna filmed milky lit amid blocks black and white apartmenting veil'd sky over Manhattan, of...
Homework
Homage to Kenneth If I were doing my Laundry I'd wash my dirty IranI'd throw in my United States, and pour on the Ivory Soap, scrub up Africa, put all the birds and elephants back in the jungle, I'd wash the Amazon river and clean the oi...
CIA Dope Calypso
In nineteen hundred China was won by Mao Chiang Kai Shek's army ran They were waiting there in Thailand