JULY FOURTH - A RECKONING

In these United States
Only those People
Dismissed from the tax rolls
Because of an income that falls
below the ‘Poverty Line’
May live with integrity and honor.

Otherwise, as a Tax paying Citizen
One is fully complicit
In the management
Of the American Empire
And all of the Global devastation
It venally Mandates.

Too accustomed
To the comforts
Of a Middle Class income
I shall continue to pay Taxes:
Selfishly wanting to avoid participation
In this country’s penal system.

In lieu of Imprisonment
I remain ‘Free’ and merely
Pay the price of a Conscience
Pitted by cluster bombs
Poisoned by spent Uranium and
Pervaded by the stench of rotting flesh.