{"id":1687,"date":"2008-11-26T08:52:34","date_gmt":"2008-11-26T16:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/2008\/11\/words_of_gratitude\/"},"modified":"2013-11-29T11:05:27","modified_gmt":"2013-11-29T16:05:27","slug":"words_of_gratitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2008\/11\/words_of_gratitude.html","title":{"rendered":"Words of Gratitude"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given the so-called change said to be coming to the B<\/strong><\/font><\/a>a<\/strong><\/font><\/a>n<\/strong><\/font><\/a>a<\/strong><\/font><\/a>n<\/strong><\/font><\/a>a<\/strong><\/font><\/a>R<\/strong><\/font><\/a>e<\/strong><\/font><\/a>p<\/strong><\/font><\/a>u<\/strong><\/font><\/a>b<\/strong><\/font><\/a>l<\/strong><\/font><\/a>i<\/strong><\/font><\/a>c<\/strong><\/font><\/a>, it may be seen as cynical to recall this Thanksgiving Prayer<\/a>, first offered 20 years ago this week and dedicated to John Dillinger. But Uncle Bill<\/a>‘s words of gratitude have a certain je ne sais quoi<\/em><\/a> … the ring of truth maybe? Listen<\/a> or, if you prefer, watch and listen<\/a>, and decide for yourself.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Thanks for the wild turkey and the passenger pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts —<\/p>\n

thanks for a Continent to despoil
\nand poison —<\/p>\n

thanks for Indians to provide a
\nmodicum of challenge and
\ndanger —<\/p>\n

thanks for vast herds of bison to
\nkill and skin leaving the
\ncarcasses to rot —<\/p>\n

thanks for bounties on wolves
\nand coyotes —<\/p>\n

thanks for the AMERICAN DREAM
\nto vulgarize and to falsify until
\nthe bare lies shine through —<\/p>\n

thanks for the KKK,
\nfor nigger-killin’ lawmen,
\nfeelin’ their notches,
\nfor decent church-goin’ women,
\nwith their mean, pinched, bitter,
\nevil faces —<\/p>\n

thanks for “Kill a Queer for
\nChrist” stickers —<\/p>\n

thanks for laboratory AIDS —<\/p>\n

thanks for Prohibition and the
\nWar against Drugs —<\/p>\n

thanks for a country where
\nnobody’s allowed to mind his
\nown business —<\/p>\n

thanks for a nation of finks — yes,<\/p>\n

thanks for all the
\nmemories … all right let’s see
\nyour arms …
\nyou always were a headache and
\nyou always were a bore —<\/p>\n

thanks for the last and greatest
\nbetrayal of the last and greatest
\nof human dreams.<\/FONT><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

© 1986 by William S. Burroughs<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Given the so-called change said to be coming to the aaaeulc, it may be seen as cynical to recall this Thanksgiving Prayer, first offered 20 years ago this week and dedicated to John Dillinger. But Uncle Bill‘s words of gratitude have a certain je ne sais quoi … the ring of truth maybe? Listen or, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-rd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}