When my draft board finally agreed to grant me
conscientious objector status and allowed
India to be the place to do my service
I felt very much like Brer Rabbit did I
imagine as he tumbled head over heels
into the briar patch, free of Brer Fox and free
of the Tar Baby and home at last. Now I leave
you to figure out the allegory, offering
what exegesis I can only if you
insist. Home is something of a state of mind.
The Tar Baby is patriotism, which makes Brer
Fox the political machine who finds the
nonchalance of the liberated individual
infuriating. The briar patch—blessed uncertainty!
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