Hoodwinked by the stars in the eyes of the ‘American Dream’
Sleep-walking, through the ‘Red Stripe’ and the ‘Lucky Strike’
And the killing-fields of green
Stained with the invisible blood of Mother’s sons, now laid to rest
Faceless soldiers who fought their damnedest
Now planted like seeds at regular intervals
With line after line and row upon row
Of manicured headstones for hundreds and thousands of silent dead heroes
Like white marble stripes on the red and blue flag of ‘capitalist consumerism’
Who died in their country’s pursuit of ‘world supremacism’
Where oil and beef and the arms industries are ‘king’
And the multiplicity of the dollar $ign is everything, ch-ching!
Seen through the myopic blinkered lens of tunnel vision
Which honours the rights of the man-made corporation
Over and above those of the individual or the community
Completely disregarding compassion, union and ecological sustainability
In preference of a quarterly profit-margin
Somehow we became removed from the ‘natural world’, with an absence of humility
A ‘breed apart’, the needy, greedy, self-important human
With no choice now but to career full-steam ahead towards chaos and rumination
Though maybe, just maybe, we still can ‘save-the-day’ through a reclamation
Of Self-Love, equality, and a natural heart-connection
Together now let us pray, for sweet Love’s healing salvation
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‘Stars and Stripes’ was inspired by a series of art works called: ‘State of the Union’ by Hans Haacke who was recently interviewed at an event entitled: ‘Gift Horse’ at the ICA following the unveiling of his new sculpture commissioned for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.
