No parade no drum no strutting majorettes
no kids jumping up & down to see
no brazen trumpets and no striding troops
no polished horseflesh prancing no oratory
no “heroes” no “service” no “high sacrifice”
no “love of Freedom,” no flag flapping in breeze
no hand upon my patriotic heart
no generals no mayor no filthy lies
that do not resurrect either the dead
or those they slew, or cities they destroyed
no pious silence, no taps at 3 p.m.
no masquerade of peace. No. No parade.
I’m in the hammock in my own back yard
reflecting on our wars. I take it hard.
Alicia Ostriker’s most recent volumes of poetry are “The Book of Seventy” and “The Old Woman, the Tulip and the Dog.” She was twice a finalist for the National Book Award, and received the National Jewish Book Award in 2010.
