Shenzhou 9

remember when JFK
wanted to show the Soviets
just how big our dick was
before the end of the 60’s
by shooting our load deep
into space, so as to be the
first to ever land a man on
the moon?

mr. Kennedy’s time, we all
know, was fatally cut short---
he did not get to see Neil step
out onto the surface & mumble
his now completely whored-out
sound bite,
many people who were too
young then to know what
was happening, or those of
us who hadn’t even been
born yet, never got the chance
to understand what it was like
to feel like the empire,
whose belly you lived in,
was at the tip tip tippity top
of all civilization,
despite the mass of citizens
who were being denied
fundamental human rights
within the country &
of course, despite all those
unfortunate folks, living in
countries that we didn’t like,
that we didn’t like having a
relationship with the Soviets,
that we saw natural resources
in which we were gonna TAKE
one way or the other, or
that we just wanted to exploit
the labor of to make the shit
that we buy domestically even
cheaper, taking away jobs from
those citizens staring up at the
sky, waiting for Neil to babble---

things have changed &
now, as the empire sends much of its
military weight to the Asia-Pacific,
in a last bid to throw its testosterone
around, flailing madly in the face of
China,
China itself has sprung a big one &
with the docking of the Shenzhou 9
only a few days ago,
with a goal of having a space station
fully functional, by 2020---
holding up a hand
with that special finger flipped,
in the direction of the aging policeman
of the world,
still sitting at the diner counter,
stuffing himself with doughnuts,
hoping everybody else is gonna just
do what they are told,
despite the fact that one day
his attempt at running &
getting em’, so as to dispel the
proper disciplinary measures,
just ain’t gonna fly anymore---
it will leave him breathless &
his heart will give out.