The Traitor’s Flag

By Michael Begnal

Fluttering fields of red polyester
hang on aluminum poles

in dystopic yards cleared
from the forest,

posts erected next
to splotchy swing-sets and cracked

plastic pools of mosquito eggs
the South never lost

•

grab the Polaroid, and
quick rub the self-
developing snapshot:

the traitor’s flag
pickled in urine,
new-gen Piss Christ

Michael Begnal is the author of Future Blues (Salmon Poetry, 2012) and Ancestor Worship (Salmon Poetry, 2007), as well as the chapbook The Muddy Banks (Ghost City Press, 2016). His work has appeared in journals and anthologies such as Notre Dame Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Public Pool, Empty Mirror, The Poet’s Quest for God (Eyewear Publishing, 2016), Thinking Continental: Writing the Planet One Place at a Time (University of Nebraska Press, 2017), and he has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He has an MFA from North Carolina State University and teaches at Ball State University. Visit Michael’s website at mikebegnalblogspot.com.

Photo credit: Randy Heinitz via a Creative Commons license.