Independence Day
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Fourth of July in Amerikkka
independence day
and the three kkks
explain my frame
picture me in the projects
projecting optimism
other platitudes
and euphemisms
from my unbarred prison
lost on me
the splendor
in  the prism
of red white and blue
glory
I relate best to the
underside of the story
fatted animals on the grill
sizzlin on red coals
always hotter than July
fireworks every night
fly me no banners
find me some answers
to so little
in the midst of so much
I'm lost in
never enough
adrift in the land of plenty
chains never broken
my independence
token
lost in progress
on steroids
cancer unchecked
in bunting bedecked
the dreams
sound
like lies
a lover's promises
broken
sticky like old pop bottles
recycle
democracy
brother can you spare
some justice
for
us
little Bennie down the block
sailed to Iraq
they shipped him back
gave his mamma a flag
she flying that flag today
and drinking to forget
how Bennie's daddy
Viet Nam vet
drank his self to death
chasing manhood
in
Amerikkka
built by slaves
on
land 
stolen
soaked in blood
fly the flag
Johnny boy
here in the land
of
shrinking hope
give firecrackers to the homeless
and military weaponry
to uneducated
children
to spread this joy
around the globe
free us all
from the yoke of
self direction
move us all into goverment housing
where we are all
free
to die quietly
lost in dreams of blankets
breeding
small pox
I dreamed last night of
Sitting Bull
and
Harriet Tubman
I
woke to
the smell
of bar-b-que
gonna buy me a watermelon
and
search for the
North Star
through the bombs bursting in air.

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