'Land of the Free, Home of the Brave' timothy r gates, 9/05/2008
'I pledge allegiance to the Flag,
of the United States of America'
we recited the pledge to our country,
then to our collective god,
a morning prayer,
read spiritual texts,
getting into the right mood.
Our day began.
JFK, our president murdered,
the last year that we
did our pledge
our prayer
our devotional readings,
did our
getting into the right mood.
next year,
the Beatles yelled,
'I want to hold your hand,'
'She loves you! Yeah, yeah, yeah!'
Little Richard and Elvis shook it all up.
Patsy's 'Crazy,' Hank's 'Honky Tonkin,' and Doo Wop
helped blur polarized people.
(heritage, many
blood, one
race, an illusion
gods, many
prayer, one
predators, too many
breath, breathe)
MLK, murdered in four years,
we wept together,
red and yellow
black and white,
precious, our tears,
in someone's sight,
placed in the psalmist's bottle.
refused to say
the pledge,
sing the war song
'Star-Spangled Banner,'
bombs and rockets applauding killing,
'our Flag still there.'
at fifteen, i said, i knew better.
Irish, German and Cherokee,
my heritage,
all immigrated to this land,
of the Free, of the Brave
indigenous to this world,
ethos too many to recall,
i pray that we do not prey.
icon of liberty, revolutions, murdering called killing,
i refuse to sing these songs of victory.
(a baby, somewhere, is crying, hungry, tummy bloated.
We the people, like network-marketing gurus, say,
'next.')
'I pledge allegiance to the Flag,
of the United States of America'
we recited the pledge to our country,
then to our collective god,
a morning prayer,
read spiritual texts,
getting into the right mood.
Our day began.
JFK, our president murdered,
the last year that we
did our pledge
our prayer
our devotional readings,
did our
getting into the right mood.
next year,
the Beatles yelled,
'I want to hold your hand,'
'She loves you! Yeah, yeah, yeah!'
Little Richard and Elvis shook it all up.
Patsy's 'Crazy,' Hank's 'Honky Tonkin,' and Doo Wop
helped blur polarized people.
(heritage, many
blood, one
race, an illusion
gods, many
prayer, one
predators, too many
breath, breathe)
MLK, murdered in four years,
we wept together,
red and yellow
black and white,
precious, our tears,
in someone's sight,
placed in the psalmist's bottle.
refused to say
the pledge,
sing the war song
'Star-Spangled Banner,'
bombs and rockets applauding killing,
'our Flag still there.'
at fifteen, i said, i knew better.
Irish, German and Cherokee,
my heritage,
all immigrated to this land,
of the Free, of the Brave
indigenous to this world,
ethos too many to recall,
i pray that we do not prey.
icon of liberty, revolutions, murdering called killing,
i refuse to sing these songs of victory.
(a baby, somewhere, is crying, hungry, tummy bloated.
We the people, like network-marketing gurus, say,
'next.')