Villanelle for Villains
Today I thought I’d write a villanelle.
To do it so it feels like hell’s been done.
And anyway, the country’s gone to hell.We’ve gotten the idea all too well:
Don’t be unpatriotic. See, we won!
I might just as well write a villanelle.They use false risks as an excuse to quell
our murmurs of dissent. They call us un-
American. The country’s gone to hell.Our soldiers’ lives are what these oil whores sell;
They give fat contracts to corporate scum.
Hey; what the hell, I’ll write a villanelle.Good for business means good for the U.S.—well,
tell that lie to families that lost their son
or daughter. Has the country gone to hell?We know the papers and TV no longer tell
the truth. When votes no longer count, a gun’s
one answer. Or I could write a villanelle!Our coward Congresspersons mostly fell
from grace; approved the war till there were none
to speak for us, and the country went to hell.You’ve got to vote, even if it’s just a shell
game. Say “I don’t care for how this country’s run.”
And to the villains—here’s a villanelle.
It seems like the whole country’s gone to hell.
©2003 F.J. Bergmann
"Villanelle for Villains" appeared on Asinine Poetry