Chicagoetry: Ode to Lyndon Baines Johnson

ODE TO LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON

I dig that we have a history of talking Presidents into
lousy wars. We have WMD, he had Tonkin. His People kept insisting we could win in Viet Nam, then,
when they realized we were hosed,

they
scattered. Dig a Lonely Texas President. Wow: Democrats

do it,
too!

Head Start? Medicare?
Civil Rights Act of 1964? "Hey, hey, LBJ:

how many kids
did you kill today?!" Please. Of course, PBS has to turn every biography
into a tragedy or there's no show. That's In-Fo-Tain-Ment!

Here's me: I shouted out
"Who killed
America?!," when after all

it was you

and

me.

-

J. J. Tindall is the Beachwood's poet-in-residence. He can reached at jjtindall@yahoo.com. Chicagoetry is an exclusive Beachwood collection-in-progress.