Flags

My son walks                                            I walk
the streets of New York                        the streets of Kalgoorlie
in his red ugg boots                                in my red-dirt stained runners
made in Bindoon.                                   made in Taiwan.

He counts one hundred and forty seven American flags.
I count one New Zealand
           one Danish
           one Republic of Ireland.
I see an Australian flag
caught in a white cedar
being shredded in the wind.