Fourth Day

The first day of July isn't quite set.

Unsave the date & RSVP decline to

attend the celebration of We the People.

Independence will come closer than you

want breathing heavy in your ear nuzzling

crease & crevice with a moist snout.

No space for a wall by the river or

grasping wire strung with bodies like

pearls of souls tired & yearning to be free.

The second day creeps closer as that

'fog on little cat feet'. How did freedom

end up sitting in your lap staring

up your nostrils? Why is wire growing

outside your door & wall rising in your street?

On the third day a diagnosis is in,

it's a case of terminal democracy.

Gather the marching bands & prepare

gaily colored cannonades so

we may feast upon our fat.

Red, White, Blue the Fourth comes to

remember words called life & liberty

writ large in golden glitter on the canvas of

night skies.

I am standing on the topmost bunk in

cell 2209 of Echo dorm. My eyes are

trained on far distant explosions

marking the last hours of my independence

day behind a wall & entangled in wire.