Tanks but no tanks
Bells and whistles
Flyovers and fireworks
Blue-sky-blues and blowups
How about anger and gray-dismay
Marching bands floats and floaters
The 4th followed by the 5th
In DC PS TEAR HERE
Fires raging
Paris burning
Hail in Mexico
Spires bursting in air
Ashes to ashes
A seal is singing
The theme to Star Wars
And nobody hears her
A day-old post
Who remembers anyway
Here come the veterans
Of future wars
NRA handing out guns
Like candy
Here come the homeless
Children of the homeless
The dreamless
And the dreamers
Teachers queens queers
Horseless riders
Whistleblowers
Brain-dead insiders
Fire-eaters
Flame-throwers
Now they’re outsiders
Friends of bad presidents
(Which means every one)
Every vote a note
Symphonic demonic
Iconic bugged
Every sacrificial
Patriotic goat
Every choked up throat
Every clogged artery
Cry-swollen eye
Like pigeons banking
Deafening flyover
Poop on the pavement
Hope sequestered
Every banner and flag
On high
Every unfurled lie
Forward Why
(No one knows)
Let the fiddler
Play his fiddle
Let the dog piddle where he will
If you falter or
Fail the inquisition
Stand over there
Night will come
They can’t stop that
The shadow
Drops one stair
Sink doesn’t work
Toilet-clogged-
Windowless cell
Richest country
But you wouldn’t know
If the soul voted
You would get
Another chance
But in the sun’s
Magnificent rising
There is no hope
If the heart is broken
Independence comes
And goes
What matters is
The 5th the 6th
The 7th the 8th
The 9th the 10th