This is Not Trick or Treat

The homeless black cat is on my doorstep
again her green eyes stare at me from
the leafless, loveless lawn. Do I know you?

She is the wrong choice on Tuesday
the lever only the 1% should pull
she is fracking & global warming
& pre-emptive strikes, & the invasion
of Afghanistan, of Iraq, the entire history
of Latin America, of South East Asia
of apartheid, Palestine, the Middle Passage

she is an entire warehouse of international
Halloween costumes dressed in the flag
"God Bless America," "The Star-Spangled Banner"
"The Pledge of Allegiance" -- cum-stained sheets
of red white & blue & high school graduates
who are the Future Dead of America

she is drones circling overhead looking for
Ayotallahs or Peaceniks, me & the aged
Quakers on the street corners of America
.

[Now, if I was inclined to respond to the Poem-A-Day thing, this would be Day #3, but, then, you know, I'm not.]