Today’s prompt is to write a poem that invokes a specific object as a symbol of a particular time, era, or place.

originally drafted to promote nuclear disarmament
based on the semaphore signals for N and D

my generation appropriated it to stand
for opposition to the war in Vietnam

it came to be associated with
long hair, love beads, bell bottoms, marijuana

but also with two fingers forming a V
and the general concept of peace

©ARHuelsenbeck 2021