Flag Burning

WHO SAYS

I can’t burn your flag

just watch

I am the anti-Christ
you say
I am the radical terrorist
waiting to shoot down
your twisted idea of democracy
I am the welfare mother
sucking on the swollen tits of your craven civilization
I am the feeble elder
whose sweat-earned pension
you say drains the nation’s budget
I am the drug-scarred ghetto boy
the black-skinned whore
the mambo motherfucker
you would kick out
despite the fact that I raise your children
scrub your dishes
and mop up the shit you create day after day

watch
as I strike the match
ignite the red, white and blue
as the flames rise up like hellfire
lick the cloth you would gag me with

and when I rap
you tremble in your spit-shined shoes
and when I speak up
you cry foul
when I fight back
you unfurl your laws
search for ways to tie me down
proclaiming
you have been sent by the grace of God
you are the savior of all that is good
you have come on your sanctimonious mission
to set things right
to save us from our wretched selves.

Listen now
as the flag bravely curls up
then cowers
to the crackling flames

and you would safeguard me
by denying my rights
you would protect me
by filling the streets with guns
you would jail me
for being poor/black/brown
for refusing to play your game
pray your religion
give up the pittance you dole out
in the name of God and the People

the people?
the people, you say?
as if IBM personifies the people!
as if AT&T represents the people!
as if the NRA
the Heritage Foundation
the so-called Christian Coalition
give a shit about the people!

and you say I can’t burn your flag?

well here is my reply to your two-tongued promises
here is my response to your soft, serpent lies
here is my answer to the threats you perpetrate
in the Name of God and the People

I will be the proud anti-Christ
I will be the radical terrorist
I will set your flag aflame
right here in your own backyard

just watch

as the raging flames consume
the banner of your hypocrisy

from deMockracy, Plain View Press, 2007
© Mike Maggio, 2017