The tighter a country wraps itself in its flag
The more it becomes constricted
Unable to see the rest of the world clearly
Nationhood is less about freedom and more about control
No matter what any constitution or zealot patriot might say
Countries and all our multi-layered levels of governance
Keep people in virtual feedlots
Penned in by ideas and concepts that overlay reality
In our shared delusion of civility
Look at the absurd lengths we go to
Interrupting each others smooth glide
By creating complex rules and imaginary lines
Which at their core only exist inside our minds
Now, storm troop clerics have returned
Like old testament prophets
Calling for retribution and revenge
Binary thinkers are the death of the rest of us
Auditing beliefs and creative thoughts
Against a template of hate and bitterness
All those angry faces calling for compliance
Fall into line!
Fall into line, they say
Judging everyone
Harshly critical about every action
Every reaction
So we dance these complex dances of bizarre ritual
Looking about as civilized as an ant colony
To our visitors from beyond
You know who I’m talking about
They must be quite amused
At faith-based hatred that legitimizes torture and murder
As we go around killing one another over ideas
Borders
Morality
Sexual inclination
Racism
Prejudice
Which pleasures are allowed and which aren’t
Ideas that have no physical presence in this plane of existence
But manage to keep us nose to grindstone
Brown-nosed and beaten
Through passive acceptance of the status quo
Instead of standing up and looking around
Making our own judgments about what’s in front of our eyes
Not behind them in some surreal zeitgeist
Informed by myths and legends long since twisted into barbarity
Anyone can choose to see clearly
If you want to
Be free
Be free enough to look at a field without mentally imposing
Some line running across it like an impenetrable force field
Be free to see things as they are
Not how you’ve been conditioned to think they are
Be free
Be free to see reality
Look at the stars
Let go of control
Let go of everything
Be free
David Trudel © 2013
createdavidt 
Nations
National days of celebration leave me ambivalent at best
Happy enough to enjoy the music
But troubled by jingoistic patriotism and superlatives
We don’t have to be the best
It seems small-minded
Probably says more about our insecurities than anything else
Nation states are simply concepts that will disappear in time
They aren’t natural
In the future it will seem quaint to remember a time
When imaginary lines divided the planet
And flag waving patriots cheered their supremacy
Forgetting that capitalism knows no borders
Or that the oppressed take no shelter in flags
David Trudel © 2013
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Tagged as blank verse, community, creative writing, creativity, flags, free verse, jingoism, nation states, nationalism, patriotism, poetry, social commentary