Self-Incrimination
Jan 13 2009


The “permanent record”
terrorized us all through school,
documenting every lapse
and transgression
for the rest of our lives.

Like the 1,000 year Reich
that lasted little more than 5,
keeping track of every deed
for glorious posterity,
with methodical
Teutonic
efficiency.
How the meticulous records of autocrats
are eventually used
against them.
How a clerk
in a proper office
in neat legible ink,
tallies the buried bodies
the forced confessions
the stolen hordes of gold.

Everyday
he wears a clean white shirt
a sturdy overcoat
to work,
his desk clean
the books in order.
This is the normalcy
that makes it easy to forget.
And who is he
to protest
against the all-powerful state,
the inertia of bureaucracy?

Every tyranny works this way,
because most of us choose security
over freedom.
Funny thing
there never was a record;
and why would anybody care?
Looking back
wishing we had gone
a little wild,
had the time of our lives
when we were so impossibly free.