Banners

I remember
About a week after
September 11th...

I was in a local drugstore,
And at the counter
Was a display
Of American flags...

The kind that by that day
Everyone had affixed to their cars -
As wind-flapped proclamations of 
Patriotism,

Like that guy in his Big Black Truck
Who rolled down his window when
He saw my Muslim wife
In her pretty-patterned headscarf

And yelled at her:
"Hey you sand-nigger terrorist - 
Go back to your own fuckin' country!"

She did not get the chance to yell back -
As he sped off - flag flapping fast in the wind -
That she was born in Dallas

And there, at the local drugstore,
Emblazoned on that Red, White, and Blue
Display

Right under where it said,
"US Flags! $1 Each!",

Was the caption that read:

"MADE IN PAKISTAN"...