maybe Copland had it right the first time // we create nothing in wartime
maybe all Foster wanted was a banjo on his knee // oh! Susanna,
you turned out to be such a slut

 

maybe West Side Story got it wrong // there’s always a slaughter on tenth avenue
maybe Rhapsody comes in other colors (perhaps a spot of pink?) // other than blue

 

maybe along these roads James Dean doesn’t die in vain
maybe The Diner is merely a truck stop along the 395

 

maybe instead of yo-semm-it-tee we spell it veg-i-mite
maybe instead of Japanese we inter the WASPs and GOP

 

maybe Gatsby doesn’t die but Buchanan is forced, fist-fucked, man-nipple torn off
maybe all you wanted was a little less of your V8

 

maybe California remains part of Mexico // maybe Westward Expansion
returns us back to the Queen

 

maybe Alex Trebek is asking who the hell he really is
maybe NBC doesn’t really want us all to be there // I’m not proud as a peacock either

 

maybe Twain just wants to be Samuel Clemens for awhile
maybe Islam becomes our national religion

 

maybe knowing just isn’t half the battle anymore // maybe GI Joe is for girls
maybe in this one Judy refuses to overdose

 

Jeremy Quintero is a Los Angeles-based poet and musician, who has been writing music and poetry since the age of ten. He received his B.A. in 2007 from California State University, Northridge, and will complete his MFA in December 2009 from the Creative Writing program at Antioch University Los Angeles.