In the Time of the Tellurians

cries she, with silent lips

I dissent!

it is getting late for lace-collared flags,

for love and peace, for a green parade. 

it is getting late for the current body politic,

as bad as men but lacking the immortal soul

to whom it is about to concern:

never wrap yourself in a flag of personal benefit,

of personal religion, even if it is red white, and blue.

never wrap yourself in the flag of faux patriotism 

that subverts American greatness. 

never fly the stars and stripes upside down,

except in well-defined distress.

it is un-American. it is disrespectful.

it is worse than letting it touch the ground. 

burn it if you will…play that fiddle!

societies are like ever-growing organisms, 

immense long-living trees, a coral flower

in the time and becoming snaking branches.

sweet land of liberty, if you love the 4th

never forget January 6th… 

where are the people versus yes

dancing that Folksay dance? 

…my land …your land of spoiled grapes,

still singing Muscadine to air on a G-string.

a soul without funk. rock that doesn't rock.

pure artists wield the grammar of power 

that blossoms into beautiful poisonous petals.

Justice and moral virtue do not prevent

the natural senesce of human societies, 

but merely slow the decay and give hope. 

where are songwriters and wordsmiths

to translate the language of evil

into the language of humanity,

help America navigate the delicate balance

between transcendent and immanent? 

who confirms the soul in self-control 

with liberty in law, protects bodily autonomy

the foundational freedom?

who dares to wade through the language virus, 

official or unofficial, presidential immunity?

flags. flags. flags— on the range of reason.

lightning strikes wildfires across the nation,

of mountains, of hot swirling oceans, 

paying in chaos capital, a distracted circus

writhing in propaganda and fakes.

destruction or world dominance

society of spectacle takes,

anti-mimesis talk of civil war 2.0.

easy move of pieces in the long game of GO.

a nation juiced up on disaster

from sea to shining sea, year after year

diminishing geographical advantage.

globalization currency for the ringmasters

dated project, agendas, and manifestos

the old majority of patriarchy loses power

wielding the last weaponization and suppression, 

we the people of the United States, 

living like the end is near, bewildered by fear,

time is not the only thing that brings us down.

without domestic tranquility, we lose democracy 

and it will never come back as we know it.

citizens of the world, worldlings, earthmen,

let what divided our past unite our future.

come together earthlings, denizens, and netizens 

observe lightning flashes sparkle, 

curtains of auroras dance,  

our blue planet teeming with life 

under the thinnest vellum of atmosphere.

reevaluate our priorities in the overview effect. 

take a planetary perspective

to continue our evolutionary process.

go from economy, society, planet

to the planet, society, economy.

master the seas and great void of space, 

from the unexplored ocean floor 

to the intergalactic high frontier.

we dissolve into the dark-sky-night

dreaming of a great coming together.

a Force Majeure back

in California, the mountains have turned golden 

and the fruit hangs heavy on vines

dissolving fragrances into the coastal air. 

a sweet harvest grows near.

come in from the world, it is summertime here. 

the unset moon snuggles up to Aldebaran, 

the red bullseye of Tau follows Pleadias 

into the golden gate of the ecliptic. 

a natural light show in the July sky

floats on the backdrop of the great silvery river.

the bear comes down to cool off in blue waters.

wearing a compass flag of the galaxy,

the red serpent eats its tail. spinning yarns

of a time after the United Nations,

far beyond these things, the other side Procellarum.

“We the citizens of Earth,

In order to form a more perfect union,

establish Justice, insure Earth’s tranquility,

provide for the greater common defense 

and general welfare of all humans

and the care of creation, 

and to secure the blessings of liberty for all,

do ordain and establish the constitution of Tellurians”