by Jeffrey Bryant
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| The signing of the Declaration of Independence, depicted here in a lithograph published by Nathaniel Currier. Photograph: Corbis/Hulton via The Guardian. |
Fifty-six wigged men
Conceived the United States
On land that they stole.
Fifty-six wigged men
Complained about tyranny
After whipping slaves.
Fifty-six wigged men
Scribbled out their grievances
Without irony.
Fifty-six wigged men
Used the word equal without
Having looked it up.
Fifty-six wigged men
Lived liberty in pursuit
Of more native land.
Fifty-six wigged men
Need no pyrotechnics now
Down where they reside.
Jeffrey Bryant lives in Los Angeles. He has been published in the L.A. Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Poetic Diversity Literary Journal and in the anthologies The Coiled Serpent from Tia Chucha/Northwestern University Press, the 2020 Altadena Literary Review from Shabda Press, and Shadowplay from the University of Arkansas.
