wave it like a white flag, surrendering

     with handshakes and smiles
     so civil

project upon it red and blue patriotism

     stars like ordnance exploding
     stripes like prison bars

     (truth, held captive)

parade it like a memory

     celebrating men who slaughtered brothers
     to enslave

     (sense, held captive)

whisper, like wind whipping fabric:

     the emperor’s new flag still has no colors

whisper, like rending garments:

     the problem is not one man, elected
     the problem is a tyrannous minority who sustains him
     the problem is small men chasing votes

     stuffing our futures
     like paper scraps into ballot boxes

     (humanity, held captive)

wave the white lie, blank as a black screen

     like electronic voting machines swallowing code
     returning unverifiable results

the next war will not be civil



First appeared in Poets Reading the News