America,
I miss you
though I’ve not yet left.
America,
Venice Beach beneath
a burning, blasting sun.
My burning heart for you,
America.
How long can you withstand?
America,
buses and deserts
and,
somewhere,
coyotes…
America,
Oklahoma, suburbs
and questions, America.
Fears for you
in my churning gut.
America,
just how
will they loot your legacy?
America,
Texas and longhorns
and NFL with pizza.
Jazz and sweat
in New Orleans
and dirty secrets
of a city
that sweats on a port.
America,
so confident.
I fear for you.
The mob attacks
the shining city upon a hill.
They want to clean you out.
They need to clean their rooms.
America,
the mirror in our rooms
reflecting the image
we see in ourselves.
America,
you fought the Crown
then fought yourself
for a
yet greater
America.
Warrior, liberator
in dark nights of the soul,
you’re Susan B. Anthony,
Dr King,
General Patton.
Are you on your knees,
America?
—Your history, your anthem, your children
mobbed.
America,
if you go
we go.
America,
you’re Jim Crow,
you’re strange diseases like CNN.
But more,
you’re Jefferson, you're Lincoln.
You’re enslaver but,
much more,
emancipator;
a people
that shine a light upon a hill.
America,
you’re the stretched fabrics
of all the world has sewn
and yet remain
the greatest
we’ve ever known.