Burroughs, William S.: A Thanksgiving Prayer

Thanks for the wild turkey
and the passenger pigeons,
destined to be shit out
through wholesome
American guts.

Thanks for a continent to
despoil and poison.

Thanks for Indians to
provide a modicum of
challenge and danger.

Thanks for vast herds of
bison to kill and skin leaving
the carcasses to rot.

Thanks for bounties on
wolves and coyotes.

Thanks for the American
dream, To vulgarize and to
falsify until the bare lies
shine through.

Thanks for the KKK.

For nigger-killin' lawmen,
feelin' their notches.

For decent church-goin'
women, with their mean,
pinched, bitter, evil faces.

Thanks for "Kill a Queer
for Christ" stickers.

Thanks for laboratory
AIDS.

Thanks for Prohibition and
the war against drugs.

Thanks for a country where
nobody's allowed to mind
the own business.

Thanks for a nation of finks.

Yes, thanks for all the
memories-- all right let's see
your arms!

You always were a headache
and you always were a bore.

Thanks for the last and
greatest betrayal of the last
and greatest of human
dreams.