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National Anthem
May 2, 2026
National Anthem
I plead from my
privileged prison
but you ignore my warning,
twisted in the tricolors,
blinded by insurrection,
your bullet bravery
born with abandon,
shadowed in conspiracy,
rigor mortis ready,
warped machismo
drawn like a dagger,
dripping with insolence,
sacrificing the Vulnerable,
the Disenfranchised,
the Others
at the altar of tribalism,
your faces painted with poison,
blood-smeared and vulgar,
while I stretch tiptoe
naked, hoarse, depleted
behind
these beautiful bars
entreating,
imploring,
beseeching you to
cease and desist
before
the scorch
ashes us all.
Editor: Michelle Newman
About the Poet
R.H. Nicholson is a professor emeritus of English who taught for forty years but is now (finally) focused on his own work which has appeared in Ignatian Magazine, Adelaide Literary Journal, Echo Ink, The Blue Lake Review, Ignatian Magazine, Adelaide Literary Journal, Echo Ink, The Blue Lake Review, Big Window Review, Home Planet News, Otherwise Engaged, The Quiet Reader, Bare Hill Review, and elsewhere. His debut novel Justice House Shadows is now available from Main Street Rag Publications.
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