Stars Stripes and Meanders
unable to bring myself
to press flag stamps
on notes handwritten
to my students
we drove down the mountain into town
where the main drag
ironically had sprouted flags
overnight everywhere
puzzled by the timing
weeks before Independence Day
I approached the counter
to look over the placemat display
of current offerings:
frogs
flowers
rivers –
and did a double-take:
not just any river
Koyukuk River –
my Alaskan refuge –
my affection for it
so much less complicated
than for the ubiquitous
Forever flag stamp
as the clerk rang up
the Wild and Scenic River sheets
I said, We noticed all the flags in town.
Do you know why?
Well, she said gently,
it’s Flag Day.
Like Gary Snyder
I pledge allegiance
to the frogs
and the flowers
and the wild, scenic rivers
to Taylor Hill
and Homestake Mountain
to blue skies
and bits of glaciers
to this one blue ball –
the only home
we’ll all ever know –
so salvageable
if we weren’t so
divisible
