“How many times have people used a
pen or paintbrush
because
they couldn’t pull the trigger?”
Virginia
Woolf
Confession
by Stephen Dobyns
The
Nazi within me thinks it's time to take charge.
The
world's a mess; people are crazy.
The
Nazi within me wants windows shut tight,
new
locks put on the doors. There's too much
fresh
air, too much coming and going.
The
Nazi within me wants more respect. He
wants
the
only TV camera, the only bank account,
the
only really pretty girl. The Nazi within
me
wants
to be boss of traffic and traffic lights.
People
drive too fast; they take up too much space.
The
Nazi within me thinks people are getting away
with
murder. He wants to be the boss of
murder.
He
wants to be boss of bananas, boss of white bread.
The
Nazi within me wants uniforms for everyone.
He
wants them to wash their hands, sit up straight,
pay
strict attention. He wants to make
certain
they
say yes when he says yes, no when he says no.
He
imagines everybody sitting in straight chairs,
people
all over the world sitting in straight chairs.
Are
you ready? he asks them. They say they
are ready.
Are
you ready to be happy? he asks them.
They say
they
are ready to be happy. The Nazi within
me wants
everyone
to be happy but not too happy and definitely
not
noisy. No singing, no dancing, no
carrying on.
