We Hold This Girl To Be Self-Evident Poem by Dedrick Estiltaph

no.
it's that the pops occur.
no.
it's that I hear them well.
no.
it's these discussions
deeply
about god and the emphatic nature
of our human selves
while cashing my check from the state.

this country is my favorite I've only lived in
three so far.
I've been asked to leave a couple
for fighting with my brothers
the Israelites.
not
to get political but they can go screw themselves
with their flag and stolen land.

i don't follow it well,
but I hear they bomb people religiously.
that's wrong.
you should bomb people because you hate them
not
because your god hates them.

i will not strap a bomb to my chest.
no.
i will not eat ham with lettuce on sunday.
no.
i will not ask you for anymore money.
you've warned me about that.
i lost your college fund in a freak boating accident.
it was not
a scam to raise war bonds.

anyway i'm not holding people hostage
who have friends now
i'm only holding people hostage
who have no friends.
it's not as effective
but my sleep is less interrupted
by phone calls.

you probably thought I was picked up for espionage
or soliciting prostitution
I'm running low on dough.
at least our god in the sky
understands my need for $300
jeans.
if he forgives them every time a bomb
explodes,
he'll do for me every time my checks bounce.

you should probably do the same.
save the lectures and stuff
robes of men.
I hear enough in school,
not that I've been going,
but I think its super-important to
give teachers jobs.
they're the backbone of the economy
I'd like to dismantle with bomb fragments.
you know, install something where we can have more fun.
marx was a sleaze, but maxine loves her commune.
she's only been gang-raped once.
I think I'm going to move there soon,
once this ankle bracelet comes off.