A Thanksgiving Prayer

For John Dillinger
In hope he is still alive
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 carcass to rot —
Thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes —
Thanks for the AMERICAN DREAM to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through —
Thanks for the KKK, for nigger-killing lawmen feeling their notches, for decent church-going 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 is allowed to mind his 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.