‘Hero for Hire’ and Other Poetry by Joe Tessitore

Hero for Hire

About myself I feel so good
I grabbed my club, I donned my hood
I found a hater to beat

Then on the other side of town
I knocked another statue down
it crumbled at my feet

I am a hero in the eyes
of those who print and broadcast lies
my partners in deceit

If you believe this is a joke
I’ve knocked you down without a stroke
my day is now complete

Hypocrisy?

What is it that Columbus did?
I am not really sure
His statues tumble to the ground
we’re told to make us pure

‘Twas FDR that led us through
the Second World War and
his speech about Four Freedoms
will live on forevermore

But Japanese Americans
would feel his racist hand
These freedoms he denied to them
and yet his statues stand

And on an anti-lynching bill
he would not sign his name
The question we must ask ourselves
Can there be greater shame?

How is it then that monuments
to him remain in place?
Was he not in the worst of ways
a national disgrace?

What is it that Columbus did?
I am not really sure

History

Great nations come, great nations go
the question is how will we know
when ours has run its course?

“Impossible” I hear you say
I’m sure the Romans felt that way
‘fore theirs succumbed to force

History is an open book
at which the many will not look
and she has no remorse

A Cold Hard Wedge

A cold hard wedge
Divides the land
Against itself
And it will not stand

When will it fall?
No one can say
Nor at what cost
Nor who will pay

And on that day
The world will know
That from within
Did come the blow

And who will mourn
The once-great land
That struck itself
And did not stand?

Joe Tessitore is a retired New York City resident and poet.

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