Independence Charade [Today's News Poem, July 4, 2010]

Independence Charade [Today's News Poem, July 4, 2010]

The horses go wild and deliver the blow
To finish confusion and punish the crowd
That waves at paraders—each other—and show
Their teeth of false friendship. They're predators. Proud
Of sparks in the sky; of their orderly herds
That march to a music that frightens the beasts.
The people go wild to a place where all words
Are meaningless noise; with the people released
From civil displays as they watch the parade:
And trampled and trampling, they end the charade.

“An Independence Day parade in Iowa descended into chaos when when two horses went out of control and took their wagon with them, running into crowds of celebrants and leaving more than 20 people injured, according to authorities.”
– CNN Wire Staff, CNN, July 4, 2010 6:04 p.m. EDT
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/04/iowa.horses.loose/

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Childhood Independence Day [Bonus News Poem, July 2, 2010]

Childhood Independence Day [Bonus News Poem, July 2, 2010]
From http://trickwithaknife.com/?p=771#comments

It’s first fireflies that charm children
And lure tiny yet firm fingers
To catch sources of light. Even
Extinguished there is still value:
A new hunger for bright colors.

They get older and chase lights on
A road, driving to drink. Party
On beach sand as explosions in
The sky over the bay shower
Corrupt white buds of gunpowder

On waves; rocks. And the smell: sulfur
And salt—vodka. They know this is
Not quite; almost it. Bright halo
From downtown is the source; neon:
What love must be like. Lusty

And red; taking the light spent, it
Entraps what does not die; trashes
The rest. Trinkets of lust, trifles
Of lost people who seek out the
Mementos they have lost: beaches

Are filled up with expense: condoms,
And glass shards and an ash pile that
The tide chokes on. The hot embers
Of youth die on the sand; fading
As winds blow all the best times out.

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