Poem by Martha Boss

Old Glory

I gotta get my body back.
I know its here somewhere.
where did i put it.
i was so busy
& it just went along
for the ride.
it’s a drag.
all those years i was oblivious,
it was stripping gears.

oh well,
i’m still doing the steps
to the train.

last night on a T platform
i saw a man sitting on a box
with a sign.
it said, “homeless. please help”.

he was selling LITTLE American flags.
so i bought one.
& he said thankyou.
& i said you’re welcome.
& he stood up & saluted.
& i saluted back.
& i walked off
waving my little flag.

i was doing a kind of hep, 2,3,4.
it was an energy boost.
i was carrying this symbol
of our country’s identity,-
stars & stripes.

but then, just as i question
my own body’s diminished energy,
now i question the spirit
& strength of America.

how is it doing?
i guess its ok.
its right here.
its still making flags.
& lets its homeless
sell them.

Martha Boss has had poems published in The Aurorean, The Register, Light, Spare Change, Suny Review, and Salt Works Press. Her chapbook Twine was published by March Hare Press. She has unique self-printed chapbooks for sale and can been seen most Mondays at Stone Soup Poetry at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery.

Ira Joel Haber was born and lives in Brooklyn. He is a sculptor, painter, book dealer, photographer and teacher. His work has been seen in numerous group shows both in USA and Europe and he has had 9 one man shows including several retrospectives of his sculpture. His work is in the collections of The Whitney Museum Of American Art, New York University, The Guggenheim Museum, The Hirshhorn Museum and The Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Since 2007 His paintings, drawings, photographs and collages have been published in over 160 on line and print magazines. He has received three National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, two Pollock-Krasner grants, the Adolph Gottlieb Foundation grant and, in 2010, he received a grant from Artists’ Fellowship Inc. He currently teaches art to retired public school teachers at The United Federation of Teachers program in Brooklyn.