norm, in the crowded park
at twilight’s last gleam
among the people gathered
to observe the explosions
where only one or two
people sang the anthem, i
saw José, and asked him.
José was a little tipsy –
this being the first July
since he passed the test
– and he was distracted
by the lights and the
contents of one of those
tandem prams holding
two alternately scared
and fascinated toddlers,
José junior and sister
Esperanza, whom he
comforted with cooing
and a beer-dipped finger
while he answered: José
has not himself been “in
the shit” but he has cable
broadcasting all night
proof that the star
spangled banner does indeed
still wave by rocket
glare and bomb burst.
it no longer waves only
over the homeland: by
those bombs and rockets now
it waves over many
other lands as well,
lands where people who
hate freedom must brave
our bombs and rockets
because they are evil,
stupid and stubborn.
José told me so it’s only
meta-hearsay, norm.
you don’t have to
admit it, but i could
not celebrate with the crowd
pretending to watch our
homes and city bombarded
while our own children
and the people they
have liberated dig
in and cower under real
concussions abroad.