HOW MANY POLES DOES IT TAKE TO ABOLISH POLISH JOKES?
Is the number of Jews that must die in the concentrations
camps,
Is the number of Japanese that must die to test the nuclear
bomb,
Is the number of blacks that must be slaves to end slavery,
Is the number of people that must be killed by Stalin,
Is the number of communists that must be tried by McCarthy's
red scare,
Is the number of Arabs that must be killed in the Holy
war,
Is the number of missionaries that must be eaten by ungrateful
savages,
Is the number of cows, pigs and chickens that must be
slaughtered
to feed America,
Is the number of people that must starve to end the world
hunger,
Is the number of lives that must be sacrificed by the
Chernobyl accident,
Is the number of cats and dogs that must be spayed to
end reproduction,
Is the number of trees and forests that must die because
of progress,
Is the number of animals needed for extinction so that
man can control
nature,
Is the number of people that must burn in Lee Iacocca's
Pintos,
Is the number of infants that must die from Nestlé's
baby formula,
Is the number of uninformed consumers that must be sacrificed
to make us
all feel safer about the product,
Is the number of people that must be paid off to keep
quiet,
Is the number of families that must be paid in damages
for their losses,
Is the number of people who simply don't care or are
afraid to care,
Is the number of elderly that must die in the retirement
homes,
Is the number of psychologists, psychiatrists and social
workers needed
to straighten our lives out,
Is the number of priests and evangelists needed to tell
us that there is
hope for salvation and a brighter future,
Is the number of artists that must spend a lot of time
in mental institutions
because they don't buy it,
Is the number of nuclear weapons that must be made to
insure our
democracy and the American Way,
Is the number of Indians that must be relocated to reservations,
Is the number of souls that must pay off their karmic
debts,
Is the number of tears needed to fall before love is
real,
Is the number of lies we must endure before the truth
becomes apparent,
Is the number of gurus we must follow before we trust
ourselves,
Is the number of astrologers and psychics needed to tell
us what lies
ahead in our future,
Is the number of scientists and engineers needed to tell
us that they have
made a new discovery,
Is the number of commercials we need to watch before
we learn that
we don't want to buy what's being sold,
Is the number of women that men must screw to feel masculine,
Is the number of women that must be sacrificed to end
patriarchy,
Is the number of years needed to pass before a child
grows up,
Is the number of heroes we must discredit because they
are not human,
Is the number of gods we must worship before we become
godlike ourselves,
Is the number of matches we must burn before we put out
forest fires,
Is the number of words we must use to find that some
things cannot
be expressed like love, beauty, peace, and equality,
Is the number of politicians we must endure before we
form our own
self-government,
Is the number of stars we must contemplate to transcend
our earthly
existence,
Is the number of poems we must read to learn that we
are all poets,
Is the number of fairy tales we must listen to before
we become
childlike and open,
Is the number of sunsets we must watch before we really
see one,
Is the number of birds we must hear before we really
hear one,
Is the number of hands we must touch before we feel their
warmth,
Is the number of thoughts we must think before we learn
that life
is really beautiful,
Is the number of roses we must smell,
Is the number of trees and lakes and mountains that we
must never pass by,
Is the number of songs we must sing to express our joy,
Is the number of infinity, and even beyond that, until
we finally
learn.
July 6, 1986
--Alexander Shaumyan