1bigblackblog

WHISTLING DIXIE


"i wish i was in the land of cotton

where old tymes aren't soon forgotten

look away look away look away....

the road from kampot to bogor turns and twists
up up up the hill to surang #2 the guesthouse of
mr kar chouk. somehow the conversation turned
towards america and american politics and
american history. a comment was made about
slavery. i cringed inside and moments later,
manuela, thin and blond and from latvia
looked at me and said "you're american,
african-american, yes?
what is your opinion about this?"
i thought "bloody damn and hell"

and i thought about the view, a dense undulating
carpet of palm and other trees extending
to the horizon. slavery i dont know,
and maybe the problem wasnt the slavery
but the liberation especially for the slaves.
it was the only economic model they knew
with housing and food and full employment
and now liberated they were thrown into
an unknown economic model that offers only
survival of the fittest where every man is pitted
against every other man and satan will take
possession of the bedeviled

while streching my arms into the air i said
"my opinion is that we're not drunk enough"
and to the housegirl "toi, nam whiskey, ar kun"

....wish i was in dixie hooray hooray

in dixie land i'll take my stand

look away look away

look away down south

to dixie