from this day forward
by Michael Mars

the fathers never meant by peacefully assembling,
that inalienable right to collectively complain,
to petition the government for a redress of grievances,.
stand against an entity uncontrollable, a future unacceptable,
they never meant for those kinds of things
to take place after the sun went down, well into the night
much less on the grass, such citizens are to be remanded
to the concrete walks, the hard outline of streets,
never the soft yielding leaves of grass
certainly not in places frequented by privilege
for that would be quite inconvenient to haves
which always make up a whole or at least
that sacrosanct one percent of the whole
what were you thinking, little ones,
stop reading books, or listening to others
your libraries will be hid away in dumpsters
maybe you should congregate on ships in harbors
except tea bags seem inconsequential like so many starbucks
in an unwashed sea of Citizens United, every corporation now
becomes a brother to you, maybe even a brother-in-law or two
brothers created by law, the newest by-laws clearly reveal
the first amendment has become annoying to the few,
amendment number one is the inconvenient truth
from this day forward we shall begin with two,
as in two nations under god, divisible

From this Day Forward – Michael Mars

Michael Mars is a counter culture poet writing from beneath the urban sprawl in the not so quaint hamlet of Farmers Branch, Texas. Some of his current work is touring with Speak Peace: American Voices Respond to Vietnamese Children’s Paintings and can also be found in Soundzine, Foliate Oak, Gumball Poetry and Tattoo Highway. After spending over 60 years on the planet, he looks forward to waking up and to this day remains cautiously optimistic.