America
✺
I’ve gone
to look for America.
―Simon & Garfunkel
~
And this guy comes up to me
his face red
like a rose
on a thorn bush
like all the colors
of a royal flush
And he's peelin’ off
those dollar bills
slappin’ ‘em down
One hundred
Two hundred
And I can see those fighter planes
And I can see those fighter planes
across the mud huts
where the children sleep
through the alleys
of a quiet city street
You take the staircase
to the first floor
you turn the key
and slowly unlock the door
As a man breathes
into a saxophone
and through the walls
you hear the city groan
Outside it’s America
Outside it’s America
America...
See across the field
you see the sky ripped open
see the rain
through the gaping wound
pounding the women and children
who run
into the arms
of America
—U2
~
It comes as a great shock around the age of five, or six, or seven, to discover that the country to which you have pledged allegiance along with everyone else has not pledged allegiance to you.
—James Baldwin
~
It’s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.
—George Carlin
~
This is America.
—Childish Gambino
✺
Note: Discretion and self-care advised in exploring some of the following.
~
Poem: What Kind of Times Are These?
Poem: Immigrants in Our Own Land
Poem: Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100
Poem: Learning to love America
The difficult miracle of Black poetry in America
Langston Hughes: 200 years of Afro-American poetry
With a little help from Dr. Angelou
The legend of John Henry: an American folk tale
’To be in a rage, almost all the time’
I saved my most impersonal post for last