Steven Campbell

Independence Day

It is Independence Day
and he sits naked on the porch
wrapped in U.S. wool
smoking and shaking
like a busted chainsaw.
Morning's rest has been 
forbidden by the recurrence
of a dream filled with the rage
of enemies unseen.
It has been years since he has been
visited by these visions but
he remembers them to be his own
and he flicks the remains
of his cigarette into
the dank olive weeds that
surround his home like an army
and returns to do battle
far beyond the black vail of sleep.