Newspoem.

9 July 2000

Picnic in Urbana

There's a picnic in Urbana
And New York is invited
Giuliani's gonna roast a pig
Made entirely of tofu

There's a picnic in Urbana
And LA is invited
OJ Simpson is going to oversee the lawn darts
And Rodney King will keep the kids from playing too rough

There's a picnic in Urbana
Chicago's gonna come
Sammy Sosa is going to tend the grill
And we will all blow firecrackers and fire guns in the air

There's a picnic in Urbana
Cuba's going to come
Elian Gonzalez will dress like Ben Franklin
And Castro will organize the softball game

There's a picnic in Urbana
Indonesia's going to come
Suharto is setting aside his most flamboyant shirt for the occasion
And the house arrest, well, it can wait until he gets back

There's a picnic in Urbana
Karl and Che will bedeck the trees with flags and streamers
Marc Blitzstein & Bertolt Brecht will sing the songs
Emma Goldman and Mother Jones will organize the potluck
So the hungry get first rations

If I had a mallet
I'd play croquet

There's a picnic in Urbana
We're gonna play pin the tail on the mayor
And we're gonna have a hempseed cake walk
And a civil disobedience tent
At noon we overthrow capitalism
At one the parade

We're gonna have floats
And reading groups
And ice cream
And experimental chamber music ensembles
And sparklers
And puppets
And fun

At night when the fireflies
Create a drift of spontaneous constellations
And the fireworks erupt
Like nonviolent revolution in the sky
We will spread blankets on the lawn
And cluster in polyamorous couplings
And triplings
And commit consensual obscenities
Gasping and belching
As the police look on
Nodding in approval
Nostalgic for their younger days

Then we'll have a jam session
And everyone will play electric guitar

We're gonna have a keg of organic beer
"Urbana" comes from an ancient word that used to mean "city"
There's a picnic in Urbana

...


Newspoetry at Spineless Books