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The world was shocked by the election of President Trump but was it really that surprising? In this timely collection of ‘investigative poems’ about American history, culture and politics, Heathcote Williams suggests — with characteristic wit and literary invention — that a nation which owes its very name to an early Italian pornographer, and which has been steeped for centuries in violence, artifice and greed, has reached its apotheosis in selecting such a leader.
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AMERICAN PORN Heathcote Williams Image © Gee Vaucher ‘The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters.’ — Antonio Gramsci First edition Thin Man Press 2017 Copyright © Heathcote Williams The right of Heathcote Williams to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher. A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-0-9930141-8-5 Thin Man Press, London Contents The United States of Porn Health Warning Trump versus Clinton President Donald J. Trump The White House Fly Hollywoodland Snuff Films at the White House : Mr President The President of the United States Is Really a Tree Happy Thanksgiving! America: How it Works The Atomic Museum Septimus Severus The Dying Bee Name a Radical Film The Lion and the Lamb The President of the United States is Weeping The Dalai Lama, ISIS and America Acknowledgments Grateful acknowledgments to Susan de Muth, John Lahr, Elena Caldera, Colin Gibson, Eddie Mizzi, Rex Pyke, Dave Motion, Lily Williams, Nigel Allen, Graham Yates, Jon Kunac-Tabinor, Carrie Giunta, Paula Finch, Robin Beste, Martin Wilkinson, Simon Drake and Mike Figgis. Three of these poems were first published in a limited edition of 36 copies by Gerard Bellaart of Cold Turkey Press. A reading by the author of The United States of Porn, recorded by Jan Herman, was released by Sea Urchin Editions in 2013. ©Elena Caldera The United States of Porn Amerigo Vespucci, of Florence, A peddler of pornography, Gave his name to America. When Martin Waldseemuller, A sixteenth-century map-maker, Was looking for a suitable name For a particular land mass to the West, Thought to hold a shortcut — The fabled North West Passage to India — Long sought after by navigators who hoped That it might spare them circumventing the Cape On that continent’s treacherous, southernmost tip. Waldseemuller thought at first of calling it the North Indies (In line with the West Indies and the East Indies), Until the name of Amerigo Vespucci entered his mind. Amerigo, a senior steward of Lorenzo de Medici, Had travelled both to Guinea and to Brazil And written accounts of his adventures In which he revealed that, after living with Amazon Indians For all of two weeks, he had discovered That his hosts in the rain forest were naked. This of course was appropriate on their part — Their being nearer the equator than Florence — However, Amerigo, their beady-eyed guest, foresaw a market In the drawing-rooms of Italy for some prurient tales In which he'd detail their customs and invent some more. With a tabloid glee he’d make out the Indians to be outlandish — They frolicked in the sun, had carefree orgies; and fecklessly killed Unwanted children, on whom, Amerigo would insist, they snacked. In these fables, the indigenous people were erotomaniac cannibals. His readers lapped up his exploitational gallimaufry Set in a paradise untrammelled by Church or State And his salacious tales became an Italian bestseller. Even though Amerigo was never in fact to set foot upon it, Waldseemull