I shared this poem which is written in popular verse and entitled Cry of Mindanao on the occasion of a Solidarity Forum attended by Fil-Ams who have come to Mindanao as delegates of a Solidarity Miossion to find out the situation in communities affected by calamities in recent months.
As reported, the delegates found out the stark reality of reglect by the Philippine government in probiding b asic social services to all the areas they have visited. This and the over-all anti-people policies of the government now headed by President Noynoy Aquino would inevitably stimulate the imaginative insights of artists– writers and poets alike — to shape into aesthetic structures their perceptions of what unfolds on the ground. And so, this poem–
Dis is Amerika
Dis is Amerika!
You can speak whats you want.
Der is freedom here in Amerika.
Infact, der is surplus of freedoms
Here in our beloved Amerika.
And so we export freedoms
Thru da barrel of our guns
Thru da blasts of our bombs.
Dis is Amerika.
Don’t mistake dis for another planet.
Four scores and seven centuries ago
Our fathers brought forth upon da universe
A new planet, conceived in Washington,
And dedicated to da proposition
That all men are created unequal
And all da countries shall be grouped into
First, Second and Third Worlds
Or simply into North and South
And Amerika or da U.S. of A,
As da supreme power dat fly
Da bloody star-spangled banner
Is mandated by da long-discarded precept
Of Might is Right to bully and subjugate
All da sovereign nations of da world.
Dis is Amerika,
Da land of milk and honey!
We milk da pipol of Africa,
We milk da pipol of Asia,
We milk da pipol of Latin Amerika.
We drain da breasts of all da mothers
Of all da farmers and all da fisherfolks,
And all da mothers of da working pipols
Of da Third World of da earth
We sip da honey from da forests
And da mountains and da farmlands
Of da toiling masses of da world.
We feed our own pipol, soldiers and beasts
Wid da foods we harvest from other lands.
We are da blessed of da earth.
We are da beloved of da Lord.
Dis is Amerika.
Everything is free here in Amerika.
You can free-trade your goodwill wid our oil
Da price you pay for liberty is liberalization
Da brainaches and heartburns you suffer
Wid incurable graft and corruption
In your public offices and corporations
Can be removed by privatization.
Your foreign debts and yearly deficits
And da imbalances of your trade economics
Can be corrected by drastic devaluation.
And by da magic of deregulation.
Dis is Amerika.
Da losses you incur for your development
Is da gains we gather from globalization.
Da World Trade Organization
Is da heart of our imperialist exploitation
Future humankind shall inherit dis planet
Replete wid all da profits we reap,
Bereft of all da resources we rape.
Dis is Amerika.
Speaks what you want,
But speaks no evil of Amerika.
No one must contra Amerika,
Nothing must get in da way of Amerika.
Everything Amerika say and do is just.
Anything comes from Amerika is da best.
Da logic of Amerikan affairs and actions is foolproof
Every war Amerika fights is just and reasonable.
Amerika, by hook or by crook, is always right.
Dis is Amerika!
Make no mistake of doing Amerika wrong.
Our gods and godesses in da CIA and da Pentagon
Will deal wid you in da most compassionate of terms.
They will have no qualms and hesitation to terminate
Your existential contracts wid your own gods and goddesses.
We are da preserver and da destroyer of da earth!
We are da dispenser of what is good and what is evil.
Yes, dis is Amerika
We make da wonders of da world!
We make da toys da world’s children play—
Like Santa Klaus we jingles you da joys of terror,
Deliver cleanly da playthings across da deserts,
Beneath da oceans and o’er da mountains and fields
Dashing through da snow in cold-blooded
Accuracy of our cruise missiles,
Our tomahawks, our giant Chinooks,
And all da war stuff that hit and kill
Wid blank precisions der wild targets!
Hearken now to the humming marvel
Of our latest creation, da latest model
Of our spy-brication – the drones!
Drones. . .Drones. . .like buzzing bumble bees
Screw-driving all barriers in air and on da ground!
Hohoho! Hohoho!
Our tanks roll, roar and comb da deserts,
Like veritable pre-historic crawling beasts!
Our warplanes rain down sparkling meteors
Dat bloom into mushrooms of hellfire!
Lo and behold! Terror is da mother of our power.
Der is no terror like Amerikan Superterror.
We are the police robot dat roam da earth
We scorch da forests, boil da seas,
Burn holy lands to ashes,
Crush to rabbles ancient cities,
Crumple human souls to insanities.
We chart da eternal destiny of humankind!
Our name is Amerika,
Da name above every name.
We are da god, da lord of da rings..
Thou shalt not take da name of Amerika in vain..
. . .
– don pagusara
