by Diane di Prima
if what you want is jobsÂ
for everyone, you are still the enemy,Â
you have not thought thru, clearly what that means.
if what you want is housing, IndustryÂ
(G.E. on the Navaho reservation)Â
a car for everyone, garage, refrigerator,Â
TV, more plumbing, scientificÂ
freeways, you are stillÂ
the enemy, you have chosenÂ
to sacrifice the planet for a few yearsÂ
of some science fiction utopia, if what you want
still is, or can be, schoolsÂ
where all our kids are pushed into one shape, are taughtÂ
it’s better to be “American” than blackÂ
or Indian, or Jap, or Puerto Rican, where DickÂ
and Jane become and are the dream, do youÂ
look like Dick’s father, don’t you think your kidÂ
secretly wishes you did
if what you want
is clinics where the AMA
can feed you pills to keep you weak, or sterile,
shoot germs into your kids, while Merck & Co. grows richer
if you want
free psychiatric help for everyone
so that the shrinks,
pimps for this decadence, can make
it flowers for us,
if you still want a pieceÂ
a small piece of suburbia, green lawnÂ
laid down by the square footÂ
color TV, whose radiant energyÂ
kills brain cells, whose subliminal adsÂ
brainwash your children, have taken overÂ
your dreams
degrees from universities which are nothing
more than slum landlords festering sinks of lies,
so you can go forth and lie to others
on some greeny campus
THEN YOU ARE STILLÂ
THE ENEMY, you are sellingÂ
yourself short, rememberÂ
you can have what you ask for, ask forÂ
everything