Poetry: IS THIS INDEPENDENCE?

Desmond Dekker bleats
from some impromptu roadside
sound system
echoed intermittently by a few other
intrepid souls
The last sighs of
air escaping from a
balloon long
popped
The overwhelming euphoria I
keep hearing about
from 50 years or so
ago
is not
even a memory in this
fast food
video game
social media
Nation
so many
connected
yet clearly root-less
the inherent power
of
self-determination reduced
to
phony budgets
buggy gadgets
cheap debauchery sold
at exorbitant pices
liquour
mass-produced food and
Chinese running shoes
piled high and packed tight like
the Highway reinforcements
the once indomitable spirit
lowered
like
Union Jack
and no
I dont want the Union
back
this is a lament from the
heart
for the hearts of the
people
to be realigned to the primitive
grace
of
al
our ancestors
to ease up
on the paper chase
just long enough
to raise the
banner of
people over stuff
Few want to be
poor
and thsis
Saint
is not in that number but
if the streets are to be
flooded
let it be
with joy laughter love and
communion
and the blood
of
the Innocents