The announcer at the county fair
just after the opening announcements
and before the bull riding competition
decides to give the grandstands a lecture
about the Stars and Stripes being
hauled from one war into another,
stamped on, burned, dragged through
traitorous streets by punks and cowards
out of total disrespect for those who
fought so’s we could be kept free
Then he rolls out kids in their cowboy hats,
chaps and spurs to march cute ponies around
the ring waving little flags to the tune
of “God Bless America”
No one has told them yet about the jungles
and rice paddies of South Vietnam,
the presidents and politicians who lied
standing right in front of the same flag to lure
voters to contribute to their next campaigns
Or about the ghosts of nineteen-year-old draftees
I still see rising from the dust of the arena who
never really gave a rat’s ass about that flag at all