When I joined the US armed forces
I was a maverick looking for a way out
of family and financial despair.-- I wasn't
answering any sense of jingoistic duty.
When I was a child, I LOATHED POLITICS, 
often heatedly discussed around the
dinner table.
Santa Claus felt more natural, still does.
I am not sorry for this. 
"The Man" the "Establishment,"
is "square," --a drag.

We tried to see ourselves
as children of the flowering earth 
chemically cowboying space, 
and whatever dimension took us
far away from the evening news of war, assassinations,
and riots - all generated by the "military-industrial
complex" we were supposed to pledge allegiance to. 

Long flowing rebellious hair adorned me
listening to the musical offspring of the beat poets
who eschewed the conventions of so-called
"christianized" society.
A rebel, I remain.