These works by Kyle Bronsdon are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://kylebronsdon.com/licensing.
there once was an army doctor, the army would prefer to leave his name unknown
they sent him to see their black sites, then their cover was blown
he left administrations
when he saw cruel interrogations
that left a snake under every stone
he met at the Deep Creek cabin with Lashbrook, and Gottlieb like a dark Thoreau
to ease his troubled concience, the gimp poured him a stiff cointreau
Frank was a crack
on the government track
to keep a snake under every stone
the man had made his mind up, so they set him up on the 10th floor of the Statler Hotel
he tossed his cash and wallet there, did he know that the room was a death-row cell?
when he dropped from the brink
his wife she dropped into drink
to hide the snakes under every stone
His son gave up the best years of his life, he knew he had to be tough
his father’s death was not a suicide, but the knowledge was not enough
his thirst for justice burned
he left no stone unturned
and found a snake under every stone
Cheney wrote to Rumsfeld of holding down the fort
“the Olsons held a conference, we have to keep them out of court
if the story should break
our secret’s at stake,
the snake under every stone”
700 doctors stolen away from the Nuremburg trials
the allies fixed their now invisible sins with a paperclip on their files
their morality was sick
so, with Rummy and Dick,
they kept a snake under every stone
43 million dollars to the Taliban in May ’01
two months after they vandalized the Buddhas of Bamiyan
they left no copies
but they kept down the poppies
and the snake under every stone
They needed a new Pearl Harbor for their New American Century
based on their twisted vision of military strength and moral clarity
the walking wounded’s hell
when the towers fell
was there a snake under every stone?