day ONE HUNDRED and THIRTY FOUR

A Cheeseburger on Memorial Day

I ordered a cheeseburger

and fries at the Middle
Eastern market cafeteria
cause its Memorial day

Memorial Day

or Decoration Day
a lip service holiday
for those that gave
what is known patriotically
as the ultimate sacrifice

I enjoyed my cheeseburger

on Memorial Day, during Ramadan,
when Muslims fast till sunset, I wanted
to celebrate immigrants
and the possibilities
of a world without hate
a world where no one dies in wars
a world that doesn’t exist
because of U.S foreign policy
because in the U.S we celebrate war

I thought as I finished my cheeseburger

on Memorial Day, of all the flags
planted like seeds in cemeteries that bloom in May
how it wouldn’t take more than
a strong wind to blow all those flags away

--Jason Baldinger