Ode to the Confederate Flag

Let it fly freely over all the white pimp motherfuckers
in Alabama and all the NASCAR
dads in Tennessee

who smile their big ugly smiles whenever I get screwed
over or fucked over or lost
or just fall to the floor

on my face. Let its pale noise flutter in the background
behind the skinhead bombast
that lurks in the shadows

of the vacant stares of the asshole frat boys with their
rebel hats and pickup trucks
with gun racks and

their nose hairs full of Texas beer foam and their balls full
of evil half-wit sperm. Let it shelter
the shirtless men who

walk down the street with their heads full of meth and their
minds full of the glory of
American made cars.

Let it soak up the rain on a bitter grey Sunday in Virginia
when the fundamentalist
megachurch lets out with

the leaden chatter of everyday lives and heads held up high
in service to a spoiled brat
vision of a tyrant

god and let me shine. Let me let you shine, as you burn.
Let me shine, let me shine
as you burn.

-Jose Padua