Fake News and actual facts

Pitch

Coming home alone on a bike past Three Corners

and the stink of the equestrian stable,

then Deadman's curve with the

fox tails on a memorial shield hanging from the tree

where that kid broke a power pole and died under it,

coming along in the dark, light rain, wild animals

running from me in the wet dark across meadow,

something rattles out of a bush and scratches up a post,

turns out to be a raccoon.

Near one of the few lights, in a field, a halo

forms, and an owl lands;

creek running over rocks beside the road;

the state wants to know

whether salmon will ever come back

they measure temperature and depth;

the deer feeding

on wet lawns chuff and snort, having lost me

they worry

when I go by the trailerhouse with a chimney fire

--beginning to flare and clink--

I approach the door, they are watching news

(a city burned to death earlier that day) and

they fear me, can't hear me explain

the chimney is flaming through the cracks

loosing clinkers which rain

down the flue--they fear me,

won't open the door--

there's nobody around on the road,

there's no phone--

I stand in the dark rain waiting,

I can see they are watching television,

the blue window flickering,

the chimney flashing and rattling

as creosote catches inside, glowing red

where the stovepipe enters the roof;

crossing my wood bridge

heading up the hill, there are ponies loose

in the woods, I hear their muscled thrust

against a fence.

**************************

This was Sept. 11 2001. I never quite understood why the people preferred to stay indoors--wouldn't come to the door when I knocked. Likely they were glued to the fear coming at them on Fox News. The good news is the chimney fire must not have spread after I left them to continue up the hill to the cabin I lived in. The bad news is that America was lied to regarding what Bush and the government knew--I'm not going to say it was a conspiracy but I will agree with Susan Lindauer who explains what really happened that morning in New York, and why.

Without that huge distortion of reality, including the vilification of Iraq, we would all have enjoyed the last few years a lot more, especially all those killed, wounded and otherwise traumatized by the senseless acts of our government.

Lindauer's book, Extreme Prejudice, is a great primer on fake news, if you need one. More importantly it gives first-person detail into how Bush allowed thousands of civilians to die and then used 911 as an excuse to send thousands of soldiers to die and suffer. It wasn't for democracy.

#911 #SusanLindauer #fakenews