From Selected Poems

International Affairs of 1979: Uneventful but Energy-Consuming

Maybe Julius Caesar was right,
Organizing straight Roman roads throughout Europe.
Had the nose of Cleopatra been a different shape,
History might have changed.

This year is quite uneventful,
Regurgitating over and over that the nations have no
         chance to chew and eat a good meal.
The success of Joe Clark is replacement,
Adopting dog instead of cat as house pet in the
         Canadian Parliament.
FareweIl to Pierre Trudeau;
His invitation to visit Tibet was comparable to the
         second visit of Nixon to China.
The pontiff's messages and declarations of goodwill
         are like having a pancake:
We know syrup will come along.
It is time for the Christians to unite:
Maybe the clean-shaven Catholics could join with the
         bearded Eastern church.
Margaret Thatcher's prime ministership was
         frightening,
But turns out to be not so feisty.
We are reassured that she decided to wear a skirt as
         opposed to trousers—
What a relief.
Tories always tame ladies,
And the Liberals and Labor party wish they had a she-
         leader who could wear breeches.
However, England will be always England:
When she is sad, she becomes tough;
When she is tough, she becomes soft.
Good old glory is fading,
And now they refer to the kingdom as ruled by
         Britannia, as opposed to Elizabeth the Second.
We are sad at the death of Uncle Dicky;
He was such a good person, but he had to pay his
         karmic debt:
Instead of being killed on board the ship Kelly,
He was destroyed on a fishing boat—
May he be reborn as a Shambhalian warrior.
Vietnam invasion of Cambodia,
China invasion of Vietnam:
All of those jokes are comparable to a group of lizards
         biting each others' tails.
Where is the spirit of communism?
Marx, Engels, Lenin—
If they returned and saw what a mess they made in the
         universe, they would be horrified.
We find nobody is practicing true communism.
The Chinese declaration of religious freedom in Tibet
         is humorous:
You are free not to practice religion,
And the Panchen Lama beckons the Dalai Lama.
Opening the door of Sino-Tibetan tourism fooled the
         sharpest and professional journalists;
They lost their critical intelligence.
Islamic tradition is fantastic:
"Killing enemy, develop wealth in the name of Allah."
The grand Ayatollah declares spiritual principles in the
         name of hate,
Recapturing the example of Jaws.
Sino-American declaration is sweet and sour,
Missing the Hunan beef of Mao Tse-tung,
Both parties not knowing how to handle their power;
Taiwan takes secret delight that it does not have to
         maintain international law and order.
Korea lost its leader,
Park killed in a parking lot by his own security guards;
Unifying South and North Chao Xian to make Korea
         out of Korea is questionable.

In short, the nations are capitalizing on what they
         were;
In turn they lose what they are.
This year is not an exciting year at all,
In spite of short dramas and quick exchanges.
There could be an exciting perspective to it:
Declaration of war between Islam and the rest of the
         faiths.
The Shah as le chat got out of the bag,
Terrified, frustrated—we feel sorry for the Empress
         Farah.
We realize that the United Nations is a rib cage
         without heartbeat or lungs,
Trying to do its best.
In spite of China being chairman of the Security
         Council,
Nothing gets done.
We are sad;
It is hopeless.
We are happy;
We could contribute.
The state of affairs of the world is somewhat better
         than a male dog pissing on an appropriate bush.

January 1, 1980
The Kalapa Court
Boulder, Colo.