“All-American Sestina,” by Florence Cassen Mayers

One-armed bandits, two-pound lobsters, three-piece suits, four-minute milers, five-star generals, and six-pack Buds: Happy Independence Day to you all!

Maybe the red-white-and-bluest poem in my summer class text, The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature (8th ed.).  First, though it was published in the July 1996 issue of The Atlantic.  Here’s a link to the poem.

December Edit! And here’s a link to a more recent post about how to cite this poem, MLA-style, in the paper you must be writing, Guy-who-keeps-clicking-on-this-poem!  (Glad you’re here, seriously.  Click all you like!)