From OE #1

For Joseph Cornell

The cereal came in a box. And if
you saved the box tops and sent them
to a box in Battle Creek, Michigan,
they would send you a submarine.
In a box. And if you took a teaspoon
of baking soda, which you notice
is also in a box, and placed it inside
the submarine, the submarine descended
and ascended in your sink,
bubbles floating to the surface.
Sometimes they would put the cereal
and submarine in the same box, which
seemed a much better idea.

Leonard Gontarek
From OE #2

U.S.E

don't call it the U.S.A.
call it the U.S.E
for United States Empire
Oh no?
Then how come they get in a war
every other year these days
since I've lived this life
they've gone to war in:
Vietnam
Lebanon
Grenada
Libya
Panama
& Iraq
And the CIA has interfered in:
Guatemala
Iran
Cuba
Greece
Jamaica
& the Philippines
(this is just the stuff we know about)
these look an awful lot
like the actions of an Empire to me
a net around the globe
military clutches grabbing
Empire
U.S. Empire
U.S.E.
also called U.S.E. for use
like the way they use and throw away people
and the land
and the resources
and the water
and space
and anything else they can get
their greedy bloody hands on
It's the U.S.E. all right
for use
and for U.S. Empire
U.S.E.

Ken Greenly