bloody knuckles
beneath the rocket’s
red glare
a celebration of
a house
torn asunder
another hint of tetanus
from old mother
reagan’s coffin nails
another case of
treatable symptoms
left to infection
a removal of
the fairness doctrine
led to opinions
meaning more than
simple facts
leaving the simpletons
to scream and point fingers
while the government
takes corporate cash
and buries the working class
in pursuit of profits
while the poor
hate one another
rather than rise
at the flagrancy of
taxation without
equal representation
the oligarchs hide
beneath theocracy
making easy money off of
the perpetual war machine
rather than the
tenets of innovation
that once drove us forward
sucking nutrients from
the corpse of dreamers
to paint the skies
in crimson and crude
putting the rights
of weapons manufacturers
over the enforced pregnancies
unconcerned with
feeding the babies
life begins at conception
and ceases to
matter at birth
future soldiers
fed homogenized lies
in patriotic propaganda
as old glory
hangs limp in the fetid
aftermath of another
school shooting
we pledge allegiance
to the flag
of the divided states
of consumerism
and for the middle class
carelessly interred
one nation
irrevocably divided
by whichever lies
allow us to sleep at night