POETRY / Larry Piltz : People of a Jealous God

move Air Wing One to Sector Nine
and Air Wing Two just across the line
refresh the map at Sector R
now flood the field with hover car
click it once to enlarge the grid
encrypt the code for Captain Kidd
delete and clear each square of land
before they try to make a stand
prepare to embed nuke barrage
from specs I wrote in my garage
three two one is HTML
a language for a living hell?
let the software count the till
let the software send the bill
let the software write your will
let the software make the kill
for the software what a thrill
let the software make…the kill

have you seen combat today
no but the fire’s heading this way
really too bad about the drought
no way to put the fire out
the ocean rise is way too slow
to stop the fire at Tupelo
that’s Memphis in that reddened glow
good thing tonight’s a heavy snow
the summer’s first big heavy snow
could stop the fire by Tupelo
let the software count the till
let the software send the bill
let the software write your will
let the software make the kill
for the software what a thrill
let the software make…the kill

it’s gravity that’s brings the pain
these 40 years of missile rain
the plans that were programmed so true
had been uplinked and chaos grew
it’s more than science and less than God
how things turn out so very odd
philosophers will search their souls
religious folk will look in holes
but answers lie in depths unplumbed
the truth’s just that we act so dumb
in answer to the warbeat drum
mostly the ones opposed were thumbs

let the software count the kill
let the software foot the bill
let the software spend its fill
let the software what it will
for the software ever still
let the software make…the kill

we lived online and spent offshore
and always craved a little more
we hid our thoughts and masked our sin
and woke each day in the same skin
we watched the skies and watched our backs
we watched for Jesus and paid our tax
and hid each others’ children when
the tax collectors came again
and when the morning brought the winds
we called each others’ next of kin
yes more than science still very odd
these People of a Jealous God
it’s gravity that brings the pain
but it’s 40 years of this manmade rain

we log in every blessed morning
and sweep for every virus warning
while just beyond our virtual sight
our true code’s working day through night
it’s not the science God shares the blame
what’s done is done in all our names
and programming’s always resumed
once all the bodies are exhumed
let the software count the till
let the software send the bill
let the software write your will
let the software make the kill
for the software what a thrill
let the software make

I love our City on a Hill
its every single rock and rill
but seeing from my windowsill
the kindnesses that count for nihil
the missing love you know the drill
one question from my heart does spill
when will the software make a pill
to cure us of our software ill
let the software

People of a Jealous God
(Software is Peace)

Larry Piltz / The Rag Blog

Indian Cove
Austin, Texas
December 14, 2008

The Rag Blog