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William S. Burroughs

For John Dillinger
In hope he is still alive

Thanks for the wild turkey and the Passenger Pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts –

thanks for a Continent to despoil and poison –

thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger –

thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin, leaving the carcass to rot –

thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes –

thanks for the AMERICAN DREAM to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through –

thanks for the KKK, for nigger-killing lawmen feeling their notches, for decent church-going women with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces –

thanks for “Kill a Queer for Christ” stickers –

thanks for laboratory AIDS –

thanks for Prohibition and the War Against Drugs –

thanks for a country where nobody is allowed to mind his own business –

thanks for a nation of finks — yes,

thanks for all the memories… all right, let’s see your arms… you always were a headache and you always were a bore –

thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.