YOUTHS ADRIFT IN A NEW GERMANY TURN TO NEO-NAZIS
is the headline fit to print hard by an ad
for Tiffany eighteen-karat Stars of David,
from hundreds cheap to thousands dear, depending
on the length of chain. Obermenzing, Allach,
Karlsfeld, Dachau, Walpertshofen, Rohrmoos:
the S2 subway gives all riders a choice
of stops. The violent ones are twelve,
thirteen years old. They don’t remember
D-Day or B-29s. They don’t remember fucking
Gorbachev. Are you shopping for news or
for jewelry? I can get you a deal. I can work
with you on this. Trust me. Like a fat SS
officer on a skateboard, a certain heaviness
of thought gathers momentum: if the spit polished
mark is the new jackboot, Benz can soft-shoe
a new factory in Alabama while the steel toe
kicks butt on worldwide currency markets
and baser metals of fear blacken Black
Forest skies. Motherland schmotherland,
It’s no longer necessary to gain territory:
armies move in tanks and must be fed, money
moves in lightning fiber optic strikes,
feeding on itself. By modem, Claudia Schiffer
can breast-feed an entire nation of skinhead
bankers without removing her see-through
blouse, while Boris and Steffi entertain
their cooing housefrau moms. Don’t tell me
ignorance is the cradle of distrust.
Don’t tell me the Rockefeller Foundation
has funded a team of molecular biologists
to study whether Teutonic peoples sport
a genetic predisposition to rude. They’re
searching even now for clues? Knocking
down the door to find the truth in its hiding
place, humping Anne Frank under the floorboards?
The truth gets around and won’t take No
for an answer—even from a schoolgirl. Come
here my little Naziskins, my little mousefaced
cuddlemonkey, my skinpuppy lammykins. Listen
to the gurgle of the bedtime news: the ugly
beauty of arson, the reassuring snap of gypsy
bones dancing in unusual directions, birthday
celebrations for the greatest mustache
of them all. An ad for Siemens interrupts,
trumpeting systems integration technology:
Six Million Tons Of Steel A Year its slogan.
Cold rolled. On time. Highly adaptable
to customer needs. A new production record.