by Rob Spiegel
The mother and daughter paint
carefully the whiteface on the president’s
picture, the 10-year-old laughing
as she brushes a thick short mustache
on his upper lip. “Let’s nail him to these
stakes,” says Mom, “once the paint has dried.”
Dad turns off the TV and looks at the posters
spread across the dining room floor. “We
need to be out there by 7:00,” he says.
“I’ll set the alarm early for breakfast,”
says Mom. “Can we have pancakes?” asks
the daughter. “I’ll make waffles,” says Dad.
A thousand families rise early and stretch and eat
breakfast and pack lunches for the love of country.
Rob Spiegel's poems have appeared in dozens of literary publications. He makes his living as a journalist in New Mexico.
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