a paradigm of big whoop

they say it is president's day big whoop
i'm less than enthralled
going back to my elementary school notions
of who are founding vaders were
and who has filled that office since.
my namesake ancestor
assisted Colve, the governor of New Orange
in handing over the colony
now NY City
back to the british and there were no presidents
only a king overseas
and a slavery system and indebted servitude
and a flushing remonstrance that
enshrined religious freedom in america before
we had a name, there on the hills
above wampum bay and killcreek and split rock
they say presidents need to be celebrated
today, so the essential services
to the populace shut down and kids pledge
allegiance or get spanked
like robert morris, who gave his home to
george washington and if you follow
history's trail of tears and crumbs will discover
the finacier of the american revolution
in the poor house
as a political prisoner who turned down the Presidency
and could have been a witness
about emoluments were such things en vogue
as his son and time eventually married
the daughter of a shoemaker and she like 
old mother hubbard ended up in albany
on the arm of a brawling son of a dutch oligarch
like an ornament on the family tree
the pinnacle on old greensleeves as the pagan
queens and kings faded and our names
morphed, apt as they be in exchange
for the millions with no name but rather
branded by their profession as miller, butler,
smith, potter and the like
with farm tools to fight the bloody british and
their mercenary inscripted hordes
there in manhattan only a stonefruit throw
up to the nation's first plant and tree nurseries
ben franklin and general washington
in their white riding gloves and deerskin aprons
pointing toward what they want 
loaded in their wagons back to estates stretching
an arc of history with a present 
crown on the head of all that is wrong and without
virtue, as critical human errors
long sealed in the foundation now topple imbalanced
and stars do what they like
as cinders pop
from the forge with no lincoln or other burnished
set of principles to hold form in a tophat or wig 
and no reason to tweet self congratulations
in midst of treason's dire remedy
to keep men immune to the wrath of those they decimate
like gravel under monuments to 
false paradigms




2-17-20
portland or