Red-rag and Pink-flag

Red-rag and Pink-flag - meaning Summary

Carnival of Crude Politics

Cummings catalogs rival, flamboyant factions arriving like a grotesque parade. The short poem names contrasting colors and uniforms as performative identities, then states bluntly that different groups prefer different outcomes—execution, lynching, or a product still nine months young—suggesting violent competition and the cyclical, reproductive energy of movements. It reads as a satirical, disapproving snapshot of factionalism and spectacle rather than a literal report of events.