WORM ALERT

This morning, while pumping gas
I saw a sticker on a Honda that read
Stand for the Flag, Kneel for the Cross
From its antenna hung stars and stripes.

Origin stories are the armature
Upon which humanity hangs
Its hopes and dreams
For this world and the next.

There I was reading the text
Of the now and future America
In which fundamentalist belief
In Christianity and America are conjoined.

Each origin story is as unlikely as the next
But all reflect a primal desire
For the blessings of a supreme being
And an assured place in community.

The Honda’s message can stand
Alongside the fanciful imaginings
Of Scientology’s L. Ron Hubbard
And of the Mormon’s Joseph Smith

Of the green Goddess Gaia
And other Earth wisdoms
Twined around an Axis Mundi
Set betwixt the Celestial Poles.

So too we drape the armatures
Forged by the Abrahamic traditions
Those of Buddhism, Hinduism
And ancient indigenous faiths.

But an evil worm has appeared
Birthed in this, our Modern Age
Squirming and wriggling as an amalgam
Of Fascism, Zionism and Neoliberalism…

Where plenary power subverts
Apartheid Fundamentalism kills
And the Markets’ demiurge feasts
As it Tunnels through Society’s flesh.