November 9, 2016; Response to "I hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman/"I,Too,Hear America Singing" by Langston Hughes

I, too, hear America singing

I am appalled by the dissonance piercing my ears

I am abandoned by this country I call home

I don’t want to hear their justifications or accusations

I want to restore a sense of justice
Was there ever any justice?

If not the media it’s the hate

If not the hate it’s the ignorance

If not the ignorance it’s the rich

If it’s not the rich it’s the poor

I can’t do it.

I can’t listen to it anymore.

When did words like freedom and feminism lose their meaning?

Why aren’t you hearing anything?

I’m fucking screaming

You were made to love not to condescend

When did the human in your humanity end?

When will the backs of the rigid bend

When will the rip between the classes mend

The only thing I feel is love and frustration
Like a mother to a troublesome child
My heart is breaking

You don’t have to fight a war or earn a degree to be a good person

You don’t have to hate Trump or love Obama or trust Clinton

You don’t have to know every word of the constitution to come to a concise conclusion.

Discrimination is the projection of ignorance

Protect yourself with knowledge from this fucking nonsense.

I, too, hear America singing

I am angry but far from defeated

The vision is still in my sight along the horizon

The just America we’ve dreamed of is still an option

 

This poem is about: 
My country

Comments

Katherine Watkins

THIS POEM IS UNBELIEVABLE! Thank you so much for writing it! I'm going to share it with my class! Keep going, girl!

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