America raises its communalFlag
red, white, blue but mostly white
white stars bleeding over the darkblue
complete with cleaning instructions
from the omniscient voice ofever-speculating newsmen -
dry clean, wet clean, oxy-clean, spin clean, quickclean
Bush himself chimes in - real good clean, evil-lessclean
get-out-the-evildoers clean, corporation clean
andoil-resistant-but-not-so-blood-resistant clean.

And America raises itscommunal Flag
rolled out of its sports-utililty spacious dreamland
toprepare the mushroom-cloud soup
to feed the not-so-poor
who for some reasonor another
can only see red, white, blue but mostly white when they
put ontheir war goggles
to sip red blood-wine
on leather couches.