Dear Bella
So after my article on Agent Orange Day
Was published in the campus newspaper
Professor Lang
Came up to me at Fatemeh’s Cafe and said
“Why do you only talk about
How the US and South Vietnam were
How come you never mention
How rotten the Viet Cong were
How they killed children
Terrorized women
How they jailed Buddhists
Made so many people flee on boats
You’re one-sided
You should show both sides!”
Even though Professor Lang
is highly esteemed in the Pol Sci department
Not even he can read everything
Worth reading
Seems he must have missed
(Or forgotten)
Those lines from George Orwell’s
“Notes on Nationalism” (1945)
The nationalist not only does not disapprove
Of atrocities committed by his own side
But he has a remarkable capacity
For not even hearing about them
Which reminds me of
Matthew’s gospel–chapter 7, verses 3 to 5
See, Jesus has been on my mind
I’ve been reading that history you gave me
On Yiddish writers’ perspectives on the Galilean sage
Holding it all (or trying to)
Perry
–work-in-progres, Our Heroic and Ceaseless 24/7 Struggle against Tsuris
