.........The only thing we have to fear is fear itself….........FDR

But here and now

The only thing we have

Is fear. It grows like mushrooms

In the dark, like dandelions

In the sun, like erections

Unbidden, straining at your zipper

It metastasizes

Like fomites in a plane

Above the sneezing cabinmate

Who, despite his buttoned-down

Suit might be hiding

An incendiary in his shoe

It cannot be wiped clean

By emptying our pockets

In Security, or by testing

My laptop for nitro

Or confiscating all our hairgel

Or lens cleaner.

And it is purveyed by

Simpletons and charlatans

By moral imbeciles

And crypto-fascists

Who exploit it as a cudgel

Our yoke and chain

Accusing us of naïveté

If we dare to question

Its source,

Or collusion

If we fail to fear

……………..CJ_Langer@fccc.edu

Princeton Jcn, NJ 08550 w/p – 9/24/06