I Can't Change it, Can I? by Gillian

TV images double time on the screen.
Grainy monochrome figures rushing to trenches,
cheering and laughing and slaps on the back.
Scrambling now into no-man’s-land,
not laughing but screaming, hanging on wire.
Then hobbling home, shell-shocked and shaking,
the lucky ones.

Well I can’t change it can I?
It’s all time gone by.
Have some more chips and dip.

TV images now retouched and colored.
Tough young GIs run and fall on the beaches
screaming for medics and mother and home.
Gazing now in horror at Auschwitz
turning skeletons free to a horrified world.
We must never forget we say and we mean it.
How soon we forget.

Well I can’t change it can I?
It’s all time gone by.
Let’s have some more popcorn.

TV images now moving in real time.
Countless dead in Rwanda and raped in Darfur
screaming for help while the TV world watches.
Is this now, is it real? We’re not quite sure.
I send ten dollars to an 800 number
that lies on the screen in the blood and the gore.
I can do no more.

Well I can’t change it can I?
It’s too far away.
Let’s have some more pizza.

TV images now look quite ordinary.
Our leaders all lie and our bankers are crooks
our country is broke, all except for the rich.
Gazing now in horror at Congress,
they fill their deep pockets, care nothing for us.

All that they want to do is what’s best for them.
I just ignore it.

Well I can’t change it can I?
It’s all gone too far.
Let’s have one more beer.

About the Author

I was born and raised in England. After graduation from college there, I moved to the U.S. and, having discovered Colorado, never left. I have lived in the Denver-Boulder area since 1965, working for 30 years at IBM. I married, raised four stepchildren, then got divorced after finally, in my forties, accepting myself as a lesbian. I have now been with my wonderful partner Betsy for 25 years.