Below this jagged row of somber roofs
and across this avenue
now cut free of all its ancient trees
(part of the campaign to purify our history)

Gadsden flags
angled in taut salute
project from the put upon mind
of suburban bungalows

in the heat of the day
neon shutters and wallpaper gutters
appear then disappear
in waves

while in backyard garden salons
the old men dream
of an immanent domain, cast in iron
without give for interpretation

the days are bright and steely-eyed, sanitized
civilized and un-lived in: tediously divided
by driveways and walkways near to bursting
for want of a crack or a weed

or any other sign of life’s frailties
hedges cut flat
straight across the top, all nonsense
trimmed away

polemics such as "No Solicitors"
"Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted"
"STOP" holding in the urge
to spout out run on sentences
rather than settle for all this mindless jingoism

the oppression of ordinary days
protecting the American right of privacy
out there
on the street where you live.

Michael Zadell holds a BS in Computer Science (1993, Summa Cum Laude) and an MA in History (2010) - both degrees earned from Cleveland State University. After 20 years as a computer systems designer - and singer-songwriter with the NorthEast Ohio band Up Ten Yen - Michael now writes poetry and history full time. He resides in a lakefront community outside Cleveland, Ohio.