No, Thank You Mr. Burroughs....

"To John Dillinger and hope he is still alive.

Thanksgiving Day November 28 1986"

Thanks for the wild turkey and

the passenger pigeons, destined

to be shat 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

carcasses to rot.

Thanks for bounties on wolves

and coyotes. 

Thanks for the American dream,

To vulgarize and to falsify until

the bare lies shine through. 

Thanks for the KKK. 

For nigger-killin' lawmen,

feelin' their notches. 

For decent church-goin' 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's allowed to mind the

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.

Mr. Burroughs posing in front of 2 of his later works 
with his preferred expressive device