To the Censorious Ones
By Anne Waldman
(Jesse Helms & others...)
I'm coming up out of the tomb, Men of War
Just when you thought you had me down, in place, hidden
I'm coming up now
Can you feel the ground rumble under your feet?
It's breaking apart, it's turning over, it's pushing up
It's thrusting into your point of view, your private property
O Men of War, Censorious Ones!
get ready big boys get ready
I'm coming up now
I'm coming up with all that was hidden
Get ready, Big Boys, get ready
I'm coming up with all you wanted buried,
All the hermetic texts with stories in them of hot & dangerous women
Women with lascivious tongues, sharp eyes & claws
I've been working out, my muscles are strong
I'm pushing up the earth with all you try to censor
All the iconoclasm & bravado you scorn
All the taunts against your banner & salute
I'm coming up from Hell with all you ever suppressed
All the dark fantasies, all the dregs are coming back
I'm leading them back up now
They're going to bark & scoff & rage & bite
I'm opening the box
boo!
Copyright Credit: Anne Waldman, "To the Censorious Ones" from In the Room of Never Grieve: New and Selected Poems, 1985-2003. Copyright © 2003 by Anne Waldman. Reprinted by permission of Coffee House Press.
Source: In the Room of Never Grieve: New and Selected Poems, 1985-2003 (Coffee House Press, 2003)