The Rouge

I.

Watching Canadian Football
in SF, because
I like it. These days, I like it
better than Amerikan.

Maybe because I like Canada
better than Amerika.

Realize THAT THOUGHTCRIME
now qualifies me
as enemy combatant
eligible for
AMERIKAN GITMO.

II.

Think about Riverbend, silent
several days until 10/18/06
. . . not heard from since
. . . maybe never coming back
after last brutally articulate post.

Think about buried reports
of Iraqui girls going for
sex slavery to get out’a there . . .
(Why is this story not surprising let alone new?)

III.

Canadian Football
in SF on premium cable for
an extra $5-10 USD, $5.25-10.50 CDN.

(Anyone notice how $CDN has kept
getting closer to $USD
since you know when?)

And commercial sponsors are
US ARMY (you will also
get a free US ARMY hat)

& real estate deals of the sort
Fred Elgersma railed against
in his fabled recordings

of the 80s. And!
Canadian Football Fathead
thug commentators no

better than Amerikan Fatheads,
thus, etc . . .
And the game is indoors, yea, right,

& halftime show a
salute to Canadian Forces
in Afghanistan where
the poppies are blooming.

The Forces & their Great Sacrifices
mentioned Sentimentally
whenever the Fatheads shut the

**** up. Marching, they
look older than me. Then
a commercial for

jerky and sausage making
of the essential you-kill-it
we-cure-it sort no Canadian

would believe
for as many as 28 seconds

and then a a bit of
preternaturally repellent
advice from Dick Vitale for

people who want to get
NCAA scholarships in 2006
or 2007. And I am reminded

that wherever this football is
being played, indoors or out,
I am watching Amerikan TV.

IV.

Sometimes I like to pretend
I am as protected from
Amerika here in San Francisco as
I would be in Vancouver.

(And my Yankee Dollars won’t soon be
worth any more good goddamn Euros
than $CDS are anyway)

So . . . what’s the point of trying
to move back there
where I had an unfortunate emotional experience
while I was planting trees, anyway?

V.

In Canadian Football
the penalty flag is bright red and
a single point is called a rouge.