9
Working for Moloch(after reading Adrienne Rich)
Note: Moloch was a deity worshipped by the people
of Jordan in Old Testament times (seeT
he cleaners are scrubbing the Institute lavatoriesbecause women are supposed to do that
the girls are typing in the Institute offices because women are dedicated and careful
the women are assembling printed circuits because women are good at delicate work and women's eyes are expendable
the young men are doing their PhD's because young men are obedient and ambitious
and someone wants warheads
laser rangefinders
hunt and destroy capabilities
multichannel night seeking radar
and science is neutral
back home the wives of the PhD students are having babies
because women are maternal and loving
and who else can have children but women?
at the top of the tower the old men and the middle aged men
and sometimes one woman professor
meet to form plans, cadge funds and run the place
because obedient young men turn into obedient old men
and it's all for the good of the country
and defence funds are good for science
and science is neutral
and no one notices Moloch
the women bring them
clean toilets
cups of coffee
typescripts
micro circuits oh so neatly assembled
and children
and it's hard to see Moloch because he is both far away
and
everywhere
and no one asks to whom they are all obedient
and they say, "Who's Moloch? Never heard of him"
as out in the dark Moloch belches
and grows redder and redder
and fatter and fatter
as he eats the children
by Mary McCann, published in Pomegranate, Women's Writing Group, Scotland, 1992, pp. 64-65.
Reprinted in THE SOCIAL CREDITER VOLUME 83