Poetry Friday - July 4th

For today's celebration, let's join Gregory Djanikian for an "Immigrant Picnic."

It's the Fourth of July, the flags
are painting the town,
the plastic forks and knives
are laid out like a parade.

And I'm grilling. I've got my apron,
I've got potato salad, macaroni, relish,
I've got a hat shaped
like the state of Pennsylvania.

Things start out American enough - but soon the family is arguing over the use of language. But wait, what could be more American than that? Read the rest of the poem here.

I've only read a few poems by Djanikian but I have loved every one of them. Here's a link to some more of his work.

And here's a link to today's Poetry Friday roundup, at In Search of Giants.