paper petitions circulating
by people “qualified” because they
have survived at least eighteen years
of life.

One more thing to change, go
where poets don’t naturally go,
but what is it the CIA says?

“He is a threat, wipe him off the
face of the Earth!!” Oh, I kid
my brothers and sisters in Service—

God bless the Langley workhorses
and grunts, patriotic to the bone;

Just ease back on the violence, remember
church and its teachings growing
up; the Bible reminding us to pray
in private—yes, but at least at Church
we got some gospel—

Always Good.

Bombs light up the night, and kill me
slowly, my dogs going crazy, when
I moved into Los Angeles, I didn’t
know the war with Mexico was still
being fought! Holy crud, don’t say
it’s not.

I have met illegal immigrants, forced
across the border from there to here
because of abuse, drug wars, gangs,
violence.

They even tried to apply for Visas three
times; denied thrice, they hopped the
border on a truck that puttered over
a desert road late at night…

What if there was a Trumpian wall, add
some flowers and bushes to look nice?

That border-hopper’d have to take a trip
to Mexico City instead of my city, set up
camp on the steps of their Presidential
Palace, green white and red, cabbies
running around la catedral, el Zocalo beautiful—

Demand that beauty find its way to the
farmer, Zapata still fighting his own
war through sons and daughters of revolution.

Their murals are ours—I know we are neighbors
and close; but that does not mean we
need to leave the backdoor open if they want to
climb in at all hours, we must
have some rules, call them…

Laws!! Oh yeah, already named, law—
that collaborative artform making Mona Lisas
of ideals, dreams, what we are and what we could
be…

Please stop reading this and study law right now,
if you have not already. If your school
was incomplete enough to leave
out Law and Civics… They “prep” us for
“College,” a lot of hoopla for the rich!

I reject all that does not yield peace of
mind, including personal-use fireworks,
perverting a national birthday and proving
it national Mexican-American war day
in the city I live in, the City of blown-
up angels…

They’re on the floor, can be mended,
can fly again; let’s listen for
and adhere to the best ideas, for now
a nice wall, teaching law, and banning
alcohol ads a great start.

Kill Amendment number two, murder
lethal policing, destroy private campaign
spending and I’ll be the first
to propose a great legal firework show
to celebrate the Rebirth of our weird,
fractured, effort-filled Nation…

God bless all of us, one day at a time;

God bless America, its neighbors,
and the boundaries that make our
relationships manageable and useful…

BOOM!!!