Kap

Colin Kaepernick's protest

Kap

 

Kap took a knee.

As the anthem wound into its musical troubles

and the flag of the homeland was flexing its muscles

in a solemn burlesque of its former defiance

Kap knelt in silence.

 

Reverence for the flag is closely allied with reverence for soldiers died in war.  In memoriam.

Kneeling is a position of prayer, supplication

A flag can stand for the struggle to be free or a Fourth of July special at Arby’s

Ask the Cherokee Nation about the flag.  In memoriam.

Some among us are in possession of the attitude-toward-the-flag-that-allows-no-other.  It falls to them to tell a man when he can kneel, when he cannot

and on whose neck.

Reviews

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

These are powerful words and an indictment of adoration for symbols. Who gives them power? The patriot or the oppressor. The takers, or the taken from. Words are at their most powerful when they ask of us to be self reflective with impartiality. To look at beauty and hideousness of an object revered. What defines it's nature, what gives it power. And how is it viewed as, not just by the many, but the few as well. Is the symbol worth a single life, or do we hold the life with much more value? Is it a reflection of hate, or an undying promise of unity? Or both? People die for symbols without truly understanding them in their context. Their moment in history. I know when I look at the flag I'm conflicted. I see an aspirational ideology rooted in freedom for all and uncompromised unity for brotherhood. But then I remember her history both past and present. Where was the freedom for the enslaved, the indigenous, or those we interned. As a person of color I remember in our founding document we were seen as 3 fifths a human being. And in the eyes of few we still are, less American. But I still love her for her beauty and messages of hope she gives to the world. And when I drop to my knee it is to weep for her, and the promise we have yet to live by. Thank you for your poem.