Thirteen stripes,
Fifty stars,
A red, white, and blue piece of cloth
Stuck or hung or jammed in every classroom
Monday through Friday,
signaled by the crackle of the loudspeaker
we stand before it’s glory
Right hand over our heart
The recitation is mostly slurred,
faster than the principal does,
We stand half up,
one foot curled around the leg of our chair,
impatiently tensing back back into sitting positions
If it’s not slurred,
it’s mumbled
or whispered
or mouthed with great care
I’m sure Francis Bellamy never would have written it
if he had known
it was going to be butchered
by high school students
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