half mast.

mommy
why aren't the flags
up all the way?

she considers responding with the truth

to honor the woman
who birthed the man
who sent your father
to meet his death

but she like the dead woman is a mother,
a gentle liar:
hers is a world of fairies and phantasms
crafted to keep the peace

what do you think baby?

could it ever be for
the thousands dead in syria
or 40 dead in gaza
or 17 dead in a florida school
or seven dead in a south carolina prison
​or four dead in a waffle house
come to think of it why are the flags ever allowed to fly at
a height that hints at freedom

but she like the dead woman is a mother,
a gentle liar:
she is smiling down the sun behind her
no shadows from the flagpoles
​is stating with quiet confidence that

the men who raise the flags
​called out sick today