day FIVE HUNDRED and SIXTY FIVE

INDEPENDENCE DAY, 2018

This year it is a new Independence Day,
a day on which my country can celebrate
our independence from logic,
from reason,
from truth,
from evidence,
from scientific method,
independence from facts,
from integrity,
from morality,
from ethics,
from decency,
independence from the Constitution,
from legislative process,
from treaties,
from comity,
from culture,
from civility,
independence from compassion,
from kindness,
from charity,
from racial equality,
from economic equality,
from gender equality.
Time truly to celebrate our
independence from civilization!
So light the fireworks and send them
cascading into the air, rank after rank,
to explode in empty displays of
brief blinding light and deafening roar
like giant guns going off in the distance
of somebody else’s war achieving,
in the end, nothing more than
to frighten the dogs and babies.
Pop open another beer,
crack the seal on that whisky,
as the grills cool down in the chill night
and the speakers blast nostalgic,
patriotic songs from a time when
independence meant more than
a license to bully, more than
permission to piss on anyone who
doesn’t look and act like you.

--M.J. Arcangelini