By Design

Written in December '23

the citizens across the river

have a new banner representing

their blocked-out part of

the landmass called the

North American wilderness…

 

well it was wilderness until 1858…

 

it was a represented by a

seal on a bedsheet,

the state seal on a

deep blue background…

 

but some flag nerds said

it was the worst state flag

in the country, and maybe

the seal on a bedsheet trope

is true altogether…

 

so a committee was formed

and entries were considered,

and somebody made a

horizontal tricolor that had

the same colors as a flag

that represents a province

in Somalia…

 

and the right-wingers freaked,

and the right-wingers got their way

and now the flag looks flat,

stale and no less blue than the

predecessor…

 

and yet their neighbors to the

northwest take the complete

opposite stance…

 

your state flag is a seal on a

bedsheet too, the flag nerds wail…

 

but it’s not the state seal,

it’s the great seal…

 

but there’s lettering on it,

a giant no-no…

 

but how else were the infantry

regiments supposed to tell

themselves apart?

 

wait, what?

 

yes, that seal on a bedsheet

was the flag of an infantry

regiment, a flag that was

carried into battle…

 

but it still fails to follow

the five basic rules of

good flag design…

 

true, but those rules were derived

by nerds that have zero sway with

many politicians and decades after

these flags were put into service…

 

and then comes stunned silence…

 

this fake conversion was brought

you to by the voices in my head,

the screaming I do at my phone

and this station…

 

but in truth, the state flag of

the peace garden state needs

an update but the current one

does represent two themes

the state is known for…

 

subservience and irrelevance…

 

the rectangular blank spot on

the nation’s mind really doesn’t

have much setting it apart from

anything else, no Grand Canyon,

no Rocky Mountain or Black Hills…

 

but we have Painted Canyon and

Medora and Teddy Roosevelt they say…

 

and yet it never took root,

seed thrown on rocky soil…

 

and like so many soldiers

fighting in a war, dog tags

and small patches tell them apart

in a sea of similar color uniforms…

 

you aren’t meant to stand out,

you aren’t meant to be unique,

you are meant to be subservient

to a federal system,

a single star in a giant dark blue

night sky of uncountable many…

 

and it was by design,

meant to be that way…

 

and maybe that’s why so many

other state flags were dashed off

in such a negligent manner,

at least in the hive mind of

the flag nerds…

 

you are the lesser entity after all,

again by design because a bunch

of white men drew some lines and

made up a document with styled script…

 

so it is, and so it shall remain