Watchtower

[Tiger the Lion]

Watchtower
 
Call me Jehovah.
 
I will make a nation of you
who would knock on doors
'till the day
all the houses are emptied.
 
But you're lookin' and lookin' and lookin'
when the beast is in Brooklyn.
 
The beast is in Brooklyn.

[dukealien]

Watchtower
 
Call me Jehovah.
 
I will make a nation of you
who would knock on doors
'till the day
all the houses are emptied.
 
But you're lookin' and lookin' and lookin'
when the beast is in Brooklyn.
 
The beast is in Brooklyn.

Googling turns up the reference

(Jehovah's Witnesses HQ in Brooklyn sold, moving to upstate, to Jared Kushner's real estate company).  Some might say the poem is calling Kushner "the beast," or his father-in-law, but what's poetry for if not to speak truth to power... indirectly

.  Glad I don't live where everything's political, though it's starting to seep into flyover country now, too.

Nicely assembled, if a bit opaque without the Google.

[Todd]

This is really cool. Just a thought you could add another element of Jehovah Witness history by inserting a line about the invisible return of Christ maybe in the below section.

But you're lookin' and lookin' and lookin'
when the beast is in Brooklyn.

Truly just a thought. The poem holds together well start to finish.

[Thunderembargo]

Watchtower
 
Call me Jehovah.
 
I will make a nation of you
who would knock on doors
'till the day
all the houses are emptied.
 
But you're lookin' and lookin' and lookin'
when the beast is in Brooklyn.
 
The beast is in Brooklyn.

I read the dukealien critique in order to get some baring, or perhaps bearings, on the poem.   Although I have to confess, because of the religious reference to the Judeo-Christian God---which initiates the poem, my first instinct was to associate the beast with Mustafa Shalabi who helped the opponents of the WTC, NOT Jared Kushner's real estate co.    I really like the poem nonetheless.

[nibbed]

Watchtower
 
Call me Jehovah.                                                 -Catchy
 
I will make a nation of you
who would knock on doors
'till the day
all the houses are emptied.                                 - I'm not sure this is the doctrine of the JW movement (if that was writer's intent)
                                                                            I don't think they believe in the rapture of the church
But you're lookin' and lookin' and lookin'               or as Christ being One of the Trinity, their faith is different
when the beast is in Brooklyn.                               than traditional or fundamental Christianity
 
The beast is in Brooklyn.                                      -there's lots of stuff going on in Brooklyn, so this made me giggle
                                                                             and it sounded a lot like when I am shopping in big box hardware
                                                                             and customer service uses the call button and activates the recording
                                                                             over the speakers and no one listens, so it repeats the last portion. Cute & unique.

The title made me think of JWs right away. I have been dealing with their weird psychology lately,
it's wearing, but that's okay. All's cool when you recognize it.


Orderly poem.
Thanks Tiger the Lion


nibbed

[Tiger the Lion]

Sorry for taking so long to return to this guys. Thanks for reading and the interesting comments. The gist here is the irony of an organization called the watchtower that is made up of people who really have no idea what they are looking for. It's a strange thing when it's the wolf that cries wolf.
Paul