High Roller

    1
    Terrorism -
    left-wing nerd (twin
    grapefruits in his hand
    gives it away)
    winging a stiletto shoe,
    spitting on an ashcan
    to bring up a bruise or two.

    2
    Visions are steadier -
    I see in the shimmer
    blue veins to target,
    a silhouette of the rich,
    fur wraps in their Bentleys
    time to bring up tar,
    kick ass in Knightsbridge
    with my holiday bomb blast.

    3
    Bag snatching can be dangerous
    let go if you don't want to be
    dragged over cobbles behind a Vespa.

    4
    The Harrod's sign, "please keep
    moving" meant business.

    5
    Pretoria calls as does Manila.
    Later, perhaps, Jerusalem, Beirut,
    Rawalpindi.

    6
    Closer to home (I am of the Red Army
    faction) is the Bologna train station.

    7
    Counting hours down
    my button line,
    three less then
    pay-off, squeakily clean.

    8
    London seems indifferent
    to my destiny; even the
    tube buskers and streeties
    see not a harbinger
    but another shuffling
    cold-assed long hair.

    9
    The wired whisky bottle
    in the airport locker
    will make La Guardia look to
    the Statue of Liberty for deliverance,

    10
    I'll send the Hotel Crillon
    so far up the Eiffel
    they'll have to sandblast
    the sky.

    11
    My mentors
    spic 'n span boys
    no wild-eyed radicals
    with socks that won't stay up,
    rather gumless wizards
    taking Confederate rain,
    mainlining a little
    to keep the nerves steady,
    orders direct from Moscow
    with money laundered a bit,
    beats haphazard work and
    petty contracts on local businessmen.

    12
    Cells (I like the word)
    master-mind
    co-ordinate and synchronize
    revolutionary inter-cooperation.
    A swine in Munich
    is the same swine
    without his leather jerkins
    in Santiago.

    13
    Brains coming apart
    on soles of shoes
    a pantheon of causes to choose,
    let's see, neo-revisionism
    counter-revolutionary
    criss-crosses with
    degenerate bourgeoise
    capitalist turncoat,
    (both must die)
    the urgency lies in
    which commands my
    holier dross.

    14
    Brothers in the struggle
    need empathetic eyes
    to square off
    the titanic quarrel.

    15
    Cleanse the body politic,
    reads one directive.
    Rub not ointment but horse radish
    over decomposed, societal skin,
    a brisk cleansing with your strigal
    but one revolutionary application.

    16
    "De-stabilize", the latest buzz word
    flies to the manure heap
    just kick in the door -
    those planter's peanuts
    know the score.

    17
    "Property is theft"
    I'm lisping in the burning sun,
    Ethiopia done
    Tigré and Eritrea
    key components
    on the Horn's chessboard,
    mere human paste
    re-patched, re-worn.

    18
    Ditto, "take-out", liquidate.
    Run a new poker thru the rubble. A good
    anarchist's cathedral accomplishment
    is the chicken coop's destruction.

    19
    Make the rich pay.
    Squeeze the goose to the pips.
    All power to the people;
    a gun run
    is a good itch,
    works up a powerful thirst
    for Justice;
    good mercy disguised
    brother Lenin
    as a simple dock worker,
    the plague-bacillus quickens.

    20
    Orange filaments of smoke
    are better than the factory whistle,
    a good arsonist recruits
    his own flames,
    fans his own fire.
    The crackle of desire
    over hearth stones
    is reward enough in itself.