Be realistic: demand the impossible! --slogan, Paris, May 1968, attributed to Jean Duvignaud and Michel Leiris I am of no nationality ever contemplated by the chancelleries --Aime Cesaire My brief glimpse of just one star Just one stripe In the flag which unseen as an old woman Lies flat on so many windows Did not admit me to patriotism That room where tickets are collected every day and cost nothing I saw one star clearly for just a moment White as a virgin's desire In a blue field Which will turn green no sooner than the sky It had no politicians in it And the girl all in white was black as often as not I saw a long red stripe A river of blood In which everyone bathed without permission It will turn green when the only blood Is in weeds on our graves I am of no nationality ever contemplated But I have a flag One star in a blue field And the river of human life The living flag of an impossible nation Which I intend to demand --Pete Winslow (copyright) 1973 Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books