It gave him something to do

            Besides sit on the couch

            With no prospects 

            Except the hamburger joint

            When somebody called in sick

            Right after he signed up for The Cause

            He got a nice new pair of combat boots

            And went to school 

            To learn that Other People

            Were The Enemy

            In time he pulled his head

            Out of the clouds and took 

            His feet off the ground

            To go home

            He found it hard to hold a job

            But harder still

            To pat his conscience down

            So every day he drank a fifth

            And every night he played roulette

            Until

            published in Truthout