Stop The War

Mxdpoet — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 22:17:59 EDT

Flying the Flag Jennifer Lisa Vest

You won’t find me flying a flag.

There’s no flag no flag flying here

Don’t look for it cause you won’t find it

You won’t find me flying a flag on my doorstep

No old glory hanging from the drapes

or the windows of my second story.

No old glory fluttering in the wind.

You won’t see a flagstaff sticking out of my car

Where my antenna used to be

Cause I need my music

More than I need some

New-found patriotic hypocrisy

I don’t need to display

Any symbols to prove

That I’m an American

(And the truth is all the red white and blue

Is just plain irritating to me)

I don’t need to support the president

To prove I deserve a place in this land

I don’t need to censor myself or give up

My right to dissent to prove

Divided we fall, united we stand

I don’t need to relinquish my rights

To show that I sympathize with the New Yorkers who’ve passed

You won’t find me smiling and silent

Or talking about our “fighting boys” abroad

And you won’t see me nodding and using

Orwellian words to defend America’s latest bombs

And you won’t hear me politely agreeing

With Fleisher or Powell or Cheney or Rice

When they claim the Muslim world is one big terrorist network

That hates us, not because of Palestine or Iraq

Or our shady dealings in the Middle East

But just because we’re free

Cause the truth is that the truth hurts

And the lies might sound good

But they won’t stop the suffering

Bring back the lives of the dead

Or make this world a better place

So don’t look for me to walk the walk

Or talk the talk

Or tow the government line

That’s not my job

That was never a part of my plan

And it wasn’t the contract I signed

Now I understand that

The flags might make people feel

Like they belong to something big

And I understand that the rhetoric of revenge

Might come to some as a welcome release

And I understand that for the angry and the indignant

Being on top might seem more important

Than being right

But don’t look to find a flag when you come visit me

Cause I don’t believe in the right wing’s demon demagoguery

Cause I believe in more than just this country

Cause I’m a descendent of the enslaved

And I’m a descendant

Of those who walked the Trail of Tears

I’m a descendant of the poor and huddled masses yearning to be free

And what America is to middle America

Is not what America is to me.

Now, The United States may be a land of potential

But its not everything it claims to be

When it comes to liberty and equality

Cause throughout history, the poem

‘If you’re white, you’re alright

If you’re Brown, wait around

And if you’re Black, get back’

Has been our immigration policy

Still, despite all this

I do believe in the philosophies America taught me

(Philosophies penned on the backs of my great grandparents

Who died so their MASTERS could be free)

I believe in the Constitution

And I believe in the Bill of Rights

I believe in free elections

And I think my vote should count

I believe in government accountability

And a democracy where

Participatory means

People actually participate

And I believe in the United Nations

And I believe in the World Court

And I think when countries fight wars there are laws they should obey.

And I don’t think there’s ever an excuse to kill civilians

Whether they’re New Yorkers, Afghanis or Kurds

And I believe that criminals should be tried by juries

Not hunted down like wolves

So when my country starts fighting for world peace

Instead of warring for markets in the Third World;

When American signs the Kyoto Protocol,

The landmine treaty, or the treaty to get nuclear weapons disarmed

When America starts paying its UN dues and stops propping up

Dictators like Pinochet, Sujarto and Fahd

When America starts fighting for human rights

Instead of training terrorists

And setting them loose on the world;

Then maybe I’ll have a reason to fly the flag.

In the meantime don’t look for it---Cause you won’t find any flags on me.