Participatriots

Red, white and blue payloads bursting,
the neighborhood houses below are struck
with a terror, staring up to wonder
for a ludicrous moment — is it starting?

There’s a sound between the punctuation
of the patriotic show:
the shockwaves invade, shake the frames
of the homes watching below.

The houses shudder at each shell with
a together-rumbling echo; steel-faced
participants, land-locked into response,
whisper out a conglomerate sigh;

it is a choir of uncomfortable tolerance
and all creation groans…
evaporating colors spouted and spangled
but there is no pride.