by Emily Jo Scalzo
Let the flag fly inverted on our
so-called Independence Day,
a message from the newly chained:
we cannot abide these treasons—
rampart rockets set to kindle
a drought-wracked nation
aflame with hate and greed,
and all the rest no longer
free to flee conflagration
in the twilight of justice.
Emily Jo Scalzo holds an MFA in fiction from California State University-Fresno and is currently an assistant teaching professor teaching research and creative writing at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Their work has appeared in various magazines including Midwestern Gothic, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, Blue Collar Review, The New Verse News. Their first chapbook The Politics of Division (2017) was awarded honorable mention in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards in 2018.