A Dream: Terrorist Nation

T. R. Brotherton

“As police patroling the US Capitol began carrying semi-automatic
rifles, and the government warned key industries to watch for employees
who might have been planted by terrorist groups, Defense Secretary
Rumsfeld had a warning: ‘We’ve entered what may very well prove to
be the most dangerous security environment the world’s known.”

Like the rest of America I'm watching
television-a show where a woman
claims to have "the hottest breasts
in the whole wide world, the whole country" —
when suddenly the not-so-secret police
break down my door, push my face into the carpet,
and press the cold steel
of automatic weapons to my head.
I'm wearing striped boxer shorts,
and a t-shirt with a picture of our president
over a caption that reads "International Terrorist."
"It's not mine," I try to explain.
"It doesn't even fit," I say, laughing.
In response someone kicks me in the ribs
and a rifle butt smashes my face.
They take me to a football stadium
glowing with spotlights
and push me inside a fenced enclosure,
along with hundreds of others.
Everywhere I look people are pinching
themselves, slapping their own faces,
screaming, "wake up, wake up!"
Only then do I realize it's too late.