Dream for President Bush
The following was written as a spoken word poem in November, 2002, before the US invaded Iraq. It was an emotional and cathartic outpouring of expression which took place over course of a three day solo retreat in a cabin at Fairystone Park in Stuart, Virginia. Later, it was read at several Peace Rallies, open mic poetry readings, and for a cable show in Hull, Massachusetts, where I grew up. It was also passed out at the October 2002 and January 2003 Peace Marches on Washington, and was handed directly to Representative Cynthia Mckinney and actress Jessica Lange. It’s being reprinted at the request of readers who encouraged me to after I posted a few excerpts in an entry about a recent Spoken Word event in which it was read.
I want President Bush to have a dream
like the one that Ebenezer Scrooge had
I want him to be visited by the ghosts of Iraqi children
who cry out, “But mankind was your business”
I want all the Tiny Tims of the world
to get their 401k money back
from the white collar criminals who stole it
I want them to not go to war for oil,
good ratings, or weapon sale quotas
because this white collar mafia is in power
I wish President Bush would have an affair
I wish he’d take off his black pointed cowboy boots
and look at the moon more often
And then I wish he’d wake up
and be inflicted with what Jim Carey had
in the movie “Liar Liar”
I wish all the billboards across the country read:
“Give back the votes your brother stole”
and the poets would shout from every street corner,
“The emperor wears no clothes”
I want his mouth washed out with soap
every time he says “weapons of mass destruction”
and for him to wear a Darth Vader helmet
if he ever says “the axis of evil” again
I hope President Bush looks out his White House window
when we descend on Washington marching for peace
like hordes of starlings who know their way home
because it is in their nature
I want President Bush to have a dream
like the one that Martin Luther King had
I want him to be visited by the ghosts of King,
John Lennon, Paul Wellstone, and the Kennedys
I want the New York Times to cover the story
when his mother scolds him for being a bully
I hope he gets some Gi Joes for Christmas
and starts to play with real toys
and not with real people
I think President Bush should go back to school
and look up some words in the dictionary
or study history – like the Roman Empire
I’d like him to write on the blackboard 100 times,
“I will not promote propaganda – or the far right agenda”
” I will not join gangs”
I want President Bush to be haunted
by the ghosts of our Founding Fathers
until he learns this lesson:
that killing civilians is a terrorist act
and pre-emptive strike is invasion
I want him to break out in song
at his next Address to the Nation
singing “Give Peace a Chance” is all we are saying
and “We Shall Overcome”
I want President Bush to have an epiphany
or else I want him gone
I want Americans to say “yes” when the polls ask,
“Should regime change begin at home?”
And I want him to stop shouting “Fire!” in the theater
when he is the one with the matches
I want him to care about children
more than slogans and re-elections
If President Bush doesn’t have a real dream soon
he should step aside for those who do
He should impeach himself
and ask for forgiveness
for imposing his nightmare on the world
Post notes: You can read about the Washington D.C. Peace March of January 2003 HERE.
Update: You can hear me reading Dream for President Bush on the Pacifica Radio show The Monitor on December 30, 2007 HERE. Read about how the radio recording came about HERE. Thanks go out to Jeff Blakley for excerpting the poem from the show and to my brother-in-law Nelson for creating the link.
November 26th, 2007 10:43 am
This is one of my favorite poems and right on the money!!!
I remember giving to my doctor friend and he loved it. He posted it on his blog…..way back, when there were only a handful of blogs. He loved it too. xo
November 26th, 2007 2:51 pm
This is so wonderfully powerful Colleen! BRAVA, BRAVA! I am so very glad you posted this. I am going to link this from my blog post today!
November 26th, 2007 3:06 pm
The link is now posted, my dear….!
November 26th, 2007 3:23 pm
Yup…it’s a good one. Hard to pick out a favorite part, but if I had to I think it’d be:
“And I want him to stop shouting “Fire!” in the theatre when he is the one with the matches”
November 26th, 2007 4:50 pm
did you ever think you’d be so embarassed by a leader or so sad??A link to my site is Daily view . look at it today hilarious . do you watch David Letterman.?I like his presidential speeches great moments “uh uh I need a taco”.. I kid you not
November 26th, 2007 5:27 pm
That’s very powerful! Bravo. This is what poetry should do – speak truths.
November 26th, 2007 6:32 pm
This made me cry. I am so fearful about our future. I spent last week deep in thoughts of the 60’s. I watched Alice’s Restaurant and old Guthrie, Dylan and Beatles clips on You Tube. I miss the feeling that I was powerful and I could make a difference with my vote. I want my power back! Thank you posting this. It makes me want to continue fighting for justice.
November 26th, 2007 7:05 pm
I watched Alice’s Restaurant and then the PBS Special on the history of the Rolling Stone and felt the same way.
November 26th, 2007 7:55 pm
“there’s things i want
there’s things i think i want”
bush should sing along with stereophonics…
i love this poem! brilliant!
November 26th, 2007 11:05 pm
Colleen, I have posted a link to this post on Bonnie’s Books, and now I’m off to post the same thing on several of my other blogs. I want you to get the widest possible exposure for this powerful poem. Thank you for sharing the whole poem today:
http://bonniesbooks.blogspot.com/2007/11/colleens-dream-for-president-bush.html
November 27th, 2007 12:54 am
I love the truths you speak about in the piece.
November 27th, 2007 8:09 am
Colleen- off to the side of my posts are my links – one is The daily view – http://www.bildungblog.blogspot.com is its full name (librarian) hilarious political view and read todays egels nest in fact the last couple days- Your sense of humor will
GET it!! hahah sandy
November 27th, 2007 7:54 pm
Naomi sent me here (AGAIN, your mind and mine were on the same wavelength….I posted about the deplorable conditions of health care in the US yesterday)
Your poem was quite profound. Well done! And what really amazes me is that you wrote it FIVE years ago and it means EVEN more now and is even MORE true. Thanks for sharing it.
November 27th, 2007 9:36 pm
Well done Colleen…imagine if only you’d known just how bad it would get. I still find myself in shock over this current president and vice president’s actions. I had no idea a lunatic could walk in office and do exactly as he damned well pleases whether in bankrupt us or kill thousands of our young or spy on us illegally. The whole system sickens me. I keep praying that sensible people will stand up, that we will fix things but I honestly don’t think it will be in the near future. I’d say it will take 20 years…surely it can’t be too late. Surely our spirit will prevail.
November 27th, 2007 10:14 pm
I can’t help but think how much better off we would be if Gore had been leading us for these past 7 years.
November 28th, 2007 8:40 pm
Colleen, I can’t believe how powerful that is! And, I could not agree with you more.
November 29th, 2007 1:35 pm
Wow.
Amen sister, Amen.
Thank you for putting that up again.
Scarlett & Viaggiatore
November 29th, 2007 9:16 pm
I don’t understand…..why wanting him to have an affair and with whom??? Cheating on his wife???
November 29th, 2007 11:05 pm
There is a little tongue and cheek humor in this poem. But what I am saying in that particular line is that having an affair (as Clinton did) is a much lesser scandal compared to Bush taking us to war on false premises at the cost of so many lives and everything else that it has meant. We would all be better off if the worst he did was cheat on his wife. That would be his and his wife’s problem and not all of ours and all the soldiers and civilians that have died.
December 8th, 2007 1:17 am
After seeing your poem, I had to share one of mine that has some parts that are in the same vain:
©If Jesus Were Alive Today
If Jesus were alive today,
He’d surely feel despair,
Amidst a world of plenty,
And a bounty that’s not shared.
If Jesus were alive today,
He wouldn’t understand,
The system of oppression,
And how so few give a damn.
If Jesus were alive today,
He’d certainly be distraught,
Because the animals of Earth,
Are not treated as they ought.
If Jesus were alive today,
His eyes would have some tears,
And based on all the evidence,
I’d say he was sincere.
If Jesus were alive today,
He’d have to jump and shout,
To wake us from our slumber:
“THE FUTURE IS IN DOUBT!!”
If Jesus were alive today,
You know he’d try in vain,
To save us from each other…
(No doubt he’d go insane.)
If Jesus were alive today,
I expect we’d be rebuked;
It is likely he’d remark:
“Knock it off before I puke.”
If Jesus were alive today,
No way he’d vote for Bush;
To those who say he should,
He’d say,”Kiss my tush!”
If Jesus were alive today,
With Bushites he’d be pissed:
“Ignorance is no defence!
Otherwise, get yourself a psychiatrist.”
If Jesus were alive today,
He’d put John Kerry in his place,
As the world’s lamest candidate:
“Why’d they even let that Jackass race?!”
If Jesus were alive today,
Boy, would Congress get a smack,
For practically everything they’ve done,
Especially for trusting Jr. with Iraq.
If Jesus were alive today,
He’d say the media was to blame:
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed,
That you people have no shame.”
If Jesus were alive today,
The Democrats he would scorn,
For keeping out Wes Clark:
“Was it yesterday these fools were born?!”
If Jesus were alive today,
His sense of humor would be great.
Too wry, perhaps, for some,
But that’s how he’d get laid.
If Jesus were alive today,
He’d be branded as a cynic,
Because no one wants to hear,
If it’s raining at their picnic.
If Jesus were alive today,
He’d force us all to see,
That hope and love are the answer,
To who we’re supposed to be.
December 8th, 2007 2:41 am
many naive years ago I thought, what if every Christiin on the planet sent him their WWJW DO BRACELETS….i NOW SEE THE FUTILITY OF him even “getting it ”
December 8th, 2007 3:29 am
I’m trying to get a story published about undoing all of Bush’s support. The following excerpt is why I mention it:
“Finally,” said the teacher, “bribe the White House press corps to behave like Fletcher from the movie LIAR LIAR. Have them all start carrying megaphones and wearing rubber fishing pants to protect them from the diarrhea that ‘Simple Scotty’ spews so readily. So when he next tries to, for example, defend Karl Rove’s divisive, asinine and indefensible statement that Liberals wanted to give Al Qaeda therapy after 9/11, they can all stand up and shout into their megaphones: ‘ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING US???!!!!!!!!!!!’”
“Teacher,” said Alan Shore, “instead of paying off the White House press corps it would be cheaper to just smuggle our friends Stephen and Keith in there.”
“Teacher!” Jim Carrey gasped, “you just gave me a great idea for the sequel to that movie: LIARS LIARS. Besides just having the media getting the honesty bug, the president and all of Congress would get it too. And to parallel the best line in the first one where Fletcher goes, ‘Look, I’m a bad father,’ Mr. Bush would go: ‘Look, I’m a bad president.’”
December 8th, 2007 9:03 pm
It’s a touching poem. What I hear you wishing for is that Bush be fully human and a man–a man who can take responsibility for himself and others in his care, a man with wisdom who is capable of compassion. That’s way out of Bush’s range. Bullies are not strong; they are cowards.
What I wish is that the people of this country wake up and see how they have been manipulated into choosing unworthy leaders, and then rise up, organize, and demand fundamental change, like ending the empire for starters.
December 13th, 2007 12:22 pm
I have a black tee-shirt with this across the front:
Regime change begins at home
I’m glad your poem is getting wider attention.
December 14th, 2007 12:05 am
Brilliant poem! Thanks for bringing it to our attention again.
December 30th, 2007 1:04 pm
Brilliant, powerful and passionate words. I don’t know if the power of words can remove the smirk from that smug face. George lacks the emotional growth and intellectual curiosity to ever stray too far from the script handed to him by Dick Cheney and business interests.
Your poem really makes me miss Paul Wellstone. We’ve had a few voices in the wilderness trying to quell the constant drumbeat of war the past five years, from Russ Feingold to Chris Dodd. But Paul Wellstone had the ability to speak the truth with such conviction and passion people took notice. It seems our public leaders today are in even in office: Keith Olbermann, Al Franken (yet), Jon Stewart and countless bloggers, such as yourself, who keep fighting the good fight.
I’m glad your poem is getting wider attention. It needs to be read and heard!
December 30th, 2007 3:22 pm
good poem. was touched by it. happy new yrs
December 30th, 2007 6:11 pm
I wrote several pieces before this brattish impostor took the lives of so many in his ill-conceived invasion and wondered why others couldn’t see where it was headed. I’m amazed by the number of citizens who still don’t ‘get it’ – by how many people still believe he has value. That in itself is enough to create apathy. My thoughts now revolve around the wish that those who support this fake will be taken down and those who don’t will somehow survive this disaster.
Great poem, great thoughts, great publicity!!
December 30th, 2007 11:14 pm
My favorite! Texans don’t like him either. I don’t even know anyone that voted for him. Oh but wait our elections are not what they seem. Hmmmm
January 26th, 2008 10:17 pm
I came to you via Bonnie. What a well-written piece. The damage that man has done breaks my heart. We are even feeling it in Australia. Thank you.
May 15th, 2011 9:08 pm
[…] in was there. He interviewed me for the Hull newspaper and recorded me reading my Christmas poem, Dream for President Bush for the Hull cable TV station (“Hi, Mom and Dad!)…I want President Bush to have a dream… […]
December 9th, 2015 6:42 pm
[…] 2. After seeing the production of A Christmas Carol at Ford’s Theatre while in D.C. this weekend, I remembered THIS poem I wrote in 2002, just before the U.S. invaded Iraq, which begins: I want President Bush to have a dream/ like the one that Ebenezer Scrooge had / I want him to be visited by the ghosts of Iraqi children / who cry out, “But mankind was your business” / I want all the Tiny Tims of the world/ to get their 401k money back / from the white collar criminals who stole it / I want them to not go to war for oil/ good ratings, or weapon sale quotas / because this white collar mafia is in power – You can listen to me read the poem on The Monitor radio program HERE and read the entire poem HERE. […]
July 20th, 2016 10:23 pm
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