Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986

William S. Burroughs

For John Dillinger
In hope he is still alive

Thanks for the wild turkey and the Passenger Pigeons, destined to be shit 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 carcass to rot —

thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes —

thanks for the AMERICAN DREAM to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through —

thanks for the KKK, for nigger-killing lawmen feeling their notches, for decent church-going 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 is allowed to mind his 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.

“Thanksgiving Day” first appeared in the chapbook Tornado Alley, with illustrations by S. Clay Wilson. Gus Van Sant then made a short film of Burroughs reading the text, which you can view in RealityStudio’s multimedia section. There are numerous variants of “Thanksgiving Day” floating around the internet, but RealityStudio took pains to correct them, copying this directly from the original printed text.

6 thoughts on “Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986”

  1. I read this essay/poem a long time ago. I was feeling pretty good about things until I readf it a few seconds ago.

  2. I vote for finding something else.

    I doubt Howard Zinn wrote very lyrically, but I would like some kind of poem that says “We know well this , but choose to this person who stood her/his ground, who represented good against the evil we too often have been complicit in.”

    That could be a long poem indeed. But still it might leave one with a glimmer of hope.

    Denounce the bad, find the good, and praise it.

  3. I’m submitting this again because your message service suppressed all the phrasing I had bracketed between less than “” characters.
    —————————————
    I vote for finding something else. I doubt Howard Zinn wrote very lyrically, but I would like some kind of poem that says “We know well this (atrocity) (injustice)(horribleness)(massacre) , but choose to (honor)(remember)(give thanks for) this person who stood her/his ground, who represented good against the evil we’ve too often been complicit in.” That could be a long poem indeed. But still it might leave one with a glimmer of hope. Denounce the bad, find the good, and praise it.

  4. (No, it is not duplicate, because your message service obliterated the first copy I submitted.) I’m submitting this again because your message service suppressed all the phrasing I had bracketed between less than “” characters.
    —————————————
    I vote for finding something else. I doubt Howard Zinn wrote very lyrically, but I would like some kind of poem that says “We know well this (atrocity) (injustice)(horribleness)(massacre) , but choose to (honor)(remember)(give thanks for) this person who stood her/his ground, who represented good against the evil we’ve too often been complicit in.” That could be a long poem indeed. But still it might leave one with a glimmer of hope. Denounce the bad, find the good, and praise it.

  5. Well, here we are, another year later. I feel more depressed about the future than at this time last year. ALL of the people, elected pols. former Republican Presidents, et al., all escaped the imprecatory hopes and prayers of a concerned nation. Dammit, anyway! No drunken arrests, no highway crashes, no shootings, nothing.

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