She wears an American flag like a long
skirt wrapped around her waist.
I thought that was illegal. In the ‘60s
a friend hung a flag for a curtain.
Police came to take it down.
Maybe she is protesting America.
We wait at a bus stop. My personal
challenge to talk to one stranger daily,
I nonchalantly ask about her flag/skirt.
She says the red and white stripes
symbolize daylight. White stars
on blue are night. The design was first
created by her Native American ancestors.
She wants to broadcast diversity.
A thin silver stick pierces her nose.
She sleeps on a mat in a shelter
for 13 years now. The social workers
are waiting for her to die. Her goal
is to teach a drill team like one
she belonged to during high school.
Her name is Angela. She could be
an angel who will fly into stars hidden
by Seattle’s bright burning sky.

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Carrie Albert is a multifaceted artist and poet. Her works have been published or upcoming in many diverse journals, some with curious names including: cahoodaloodaling, FishFood, Weird Sisters, Sheila-Na-Gig and Penhead (where she is a permanent fixture as Poet-Artist in Residence). She lives in Seattle with her poodles, rabbits, pigs, deer and an elephant (her farm of papier-mâché projects).