Embedded

Starting with Iraq
a casual word takes
on new meaning

bravely enough journalists
insert themselves among
combat troops soon

niceties appeared
patriotism camaraderie
drown the blood-red tide
truth the first victim of war

then network news
foreign and domestic are as replays
officials with expected answers if any

guests are almost never a Howard Zinn
Michael Moore dismissed as an entertainer
never a Noam Chomsky

here the media are embedded not in combat
but in culture whoever discovered water
you can be sure it wasn’t a fish
said Marshall MacLuhan

American Exceptionalism is the message
the need for Pablo Neruda as antidote:

They speak to me of Paraguays and Uraguays
and Chiles I don’t know what they are talking about
I only know the skin of the earth which has no name

John P. McNamee
December 2009

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