America
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I've been scared go to outside
Afraid to socialize
What they show to the world, I know I'd rather hide
It's hard to decide the people to confide
For crying out loud
Due to the outcome
I was not particularly proud
For more than two centuries, election days go and come
Amidst the ash and rubble
heroes stop to cry,
and pray for those who perished
as Old Glory waves nearby.
What can we do to tell them
how proud they make us feel
The Maafa - The Great Tragedy - The African Holocaust
Culture, name, religion, and many lives lost
Sailing West from the Gulf of Guinea through the Atlantic Ocean
America, America, why do you impose on us so heavily?
If you're taking 15% of my hard earned money,
why do you blow it on non-necessities?
And that's without the taxes on food and gas,
The history of Black People,And all of our People should be celebratedYear-round: every day, week, month, and decade.The celebration must go on unabated,All the time. The first couple,
So you call yourself a patriot?
One who supports this dreaded land?
You find yourself proud of this
Of all we have destroyed?
Bajo el puente Del Río están parados, atascados, estacionados
Miles de inmigrantes Haitianos, no Ucranianos
Francamente, si fueran estos últimos, no serían sancionados
Betrayed and backstabbed
By our African brothers.
Insulted, humiliated and robbed
How did this majestic and beautiful bird
That has a keen eye for catching fish
Become a symbol of our aggression?
Painted on the work vehicles of local
tradesmen. Stealing him off his branch
Snap was all that was heard,A hunter misses his bird, He cursed the twig asunder,Reaching for his powder and plunger, lost though his chance at a partridge,He continued, Bit off his cartridge,
Today is May the 30th and it's Memorial Day.Americans are paying tribute to those who fought and died for the USA.116,516 American soldiers died during World War I.They died while fighting the enemy with their guns.
This is not a recrudescence of racism
In America or in the world, but rather
A continuum of malfeasance, antagonism
And hardcore cruelty of the systemic horror
Disgust is in disguise.
In the world's crust, it hides.
But it’s all on us, we normalize.
We adapt to pain to make chains.
And no change.
What makes you think you have the right?
To murder innocent black men and women
To imprison immigrants like they are criminals
To steal housing from entire communities
Created for a family bond
After mass incarceration broke the family bond
Needing a sense of love and protection
For many Gangs took on those wanting affections
People arrested on non-violent crimes
Bullets have no name
All you have to do is be in frame
Be in the vicinity and you may get hit
But some legislators don't give a damn
What will it take to put measures in order
This is no dream to me
It was not my ancestors dream
It was not something we wanted to achieve
Kidnapping and capturing brought us here
Where we built on once sacred Native lands
Do you care
Do you give a damn
Look around at all this bloodshed
We're not making this up
It's time to wisen up
The evidence has always been here
People are dying
Midnight December 2008:
Awakened
The cool air filled with emotions
A white blanket covered the dried brown grass
Hill homes and cars and a place in front,
we run a race I lost at birth
with house wheels and buses.
I cross the line
to stand in dingy dark, cast by prestige.
I grew excited as they built me
Because the men, they would talk
Of the grand place I would be.
For the Land of the Free
And the Home of the Brave
They made me, Lady Liberty.
What can I say to you, America?
You crumble in barren grieving flames.
That health, that unity, that potent pride,
Today is May the 25th and it's Memorial Day.We're paying tribute to those who fought and died for the USA.Many brave soldiers gave their lives.We're paying tribute to the ones who didn't survive.
I worry for tomorrow, will there be another day?
I try to stay strong, but the pain won't go away.
We're consumed by this anguish, trapped in solitude.
the people are
protesting
some michigan fool carried a
confederate flag in the street
(doesn't he know
it isn't his flag that
is the flag of
my people we
bled under that
America is great.
But we should be better
it can't be our fate
the global bed-wetter.
If we all just choose
to make people matter
we have nothing to lose
just cut out the chatter.
The American Dream
A run in fear
The sprint to safety
A jog for a dream
A race with death
The inspiration I have gathered and grasped
from the ashes of this exhausted relief
fuels a fire untouchable to man
Rising up as the fire burns inside
Americans We
We were the arnsenal of democracy,
There, fighting on the beaches of Normandy.
We felt victory at last and our enemies none,
By standing together, Americans as one.
From China To Some U.S. States ...
And CLEARLY NOW ... In The UK ...
Many Choose To Live ... " Behind Closed Gates " ...
But The Word MANY ... " EXAGGERATES " ... !!!!!!
Fuck America, with this place that I call home,
to the place that is practically a huge giant dome,
to this place that all they do is moan
about the problems of this state,
of this country,
We saw Eric Garner get killed by the police
We saw Trayvon Martin on the news as a kid gunned down for wearing his skin
We saw Aiyana Stanley-Jones get shot during a raid
He says,
We will wax this wood,
And Green Grass will Grow,
And all will be amazed;
They will be saved!
What Would YOU DO ... !?!
If You Were Left To DIE ...
By Those Who CLAIM To ... "CHERISH Your Life" ... ?!?
What Would YOU DO To Stay ALIVE ... !?!
A country once united now stands divided
Red; the color of the black mans blood that stains the streets
White; supremacy controls a country known for equal opportunity and the free will to be who you are
Your bright smile enlightens the world.
Your silky hair weaves a rope for those to climb.
Your soft skin is kissed by the stars that are infinite.
Plymouth
Stars shine down
Over the twilight;
The mountains of old
Silent in stillness.
Waters and cliff face
They all follow you
Like puppies
Quite frankly
I cannot see this
Infatuation
But so many
Judge on looks
We both know
How you turned out
You were famous
Crazing the crowds
They all follow you
Like puppies
Quite frankly
I cannot see this
Infatuation
But so many
Judge on looks
We both know
How you turned out
You were famous
Crazing the crowds
I suppose you think you're very great
Standing there over so many
Other buildings
Even if you are not the tallest
Not anymore
You know,
Pride is dangerous
Men fall
Nations fall
An old man
On a boat
Fishing
He's caught none in his day
But he is not a fisherman
Bring America simplicity
Strip the pomp
From our prose
You've done that, Hemingway
Old crusty
I think you thought you were
Witty
Clever old man
But I can see you
Looking down
The slow,
Sassy
Mississippi
Remembering boyhood days
And you make me
Necisito un boligrafo, por favor
Oh, I need a pen!
Gracias por la manzana
Oh, I meant thanks for the apple
Hablo español, y habla un poco inglés
No, I meant I speak both
Soy de Puerto Rico
They say we've all got five wives
I only have two
I favor neither one over the other
Though my second is prettier
My first has already given me
Five children
Our religious leader
Joseph Smith
Turn from your sins!
Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven
Is at hand
Oh Lord, save our country
From their own stupidity
Their own evil
They know not what they do
They call us
Haters
They call us liberals
I guess that's so
But we just wanna have our fun
Without anyone invading it
We wanna have our lives
Without anyone telling us how to live
We'll expect you to use your words
Always speaks his opinion
In fact, won't ever shut up, my Uncle Sam
He dresses in the most outrageous colors
Never had a sense of fashion, ole Uncle Sam
Always ordering me to toughen up
He came to help
Despite the king's order
Brave young man
Brave enough to ignore a king
Brave enough to fight for a foreign country
Brave enough to stand in defeat
And later, brave enough
I pity you, Nathan
You are brave to venture on such a mission
But you do not know your danger
Do not trust so easily, Nathan Hale
You die bravely
But you needn't have died at all
My dear Betsy Ross
We are in dire need of a flag
How can we make a nation
Without a symbol?
How can we fight a war
Without a banner to fly over our heads?
Please, my dear Betsy Ross
Deborah Sampson, you have a courage
That we look at now with admiration
I would have done the same
If they won't let us fight as ourselves
We will fight as them
I think it would have been glory
They call him hypocritical
For writing about freedom
But keeping his brother in bondage
He is a Founding Father too
Writer of the Declaration
Yet he blacked out portions
Of his Bible
Humble birth
Humble man
Horrid wife
But tragic life
Lincoln, I applaud you
For your sacrifice
So many poems
Have been written
About this man
That there's not much to say
Except
What if he was just a normal man?
Lazy, muddy river
Stretching down from north to south
Curling like a length of thread
Highway
With steamboats, paddleboats
As automobiles
Drawling, lolling tongue
Land around home to
I've heard it used to be funeral music
Born in New Orleans
Now it's a groove
We have our deep-voiced singers
And low saxophones
It doesn't really make you blue
But it sounds like the color
Shooting to the sky
Exploding out of the earth
Dangerous yet constant
You are a sign
Though you sit on
An extremely dangerous volcano
Through you we see
An intelligent hand
Dumb blonde
Was she even blonde?
Perfect princess curls
Dainty yet American face
Perfect woman, so they say
Beautiful and dim-witted
Wealthy?
Perfect act
All loved her
Greasy and salty
Sometimes crispy
The worst are mushy
They say the fast-food companies
Inject the potatoes with sugar
To keep them consistent
They're French
Or are they?
Beaver, rabbit, coon, muskrat
Some for food
And some for your beautiful pelts
Beaver will buy me cornmeal
For my mush
So that I may sit near the fire
And be content
With my skins
Wagon rocking
Nobody talking
On the trail
Sun just a dot
But oh, it's hot
On the trail
We're all worn
Our calico torn
On the trail
We need some water
Prickly
And maybe not always the kindest
But we're tough
We won't
Give up our place in the desert
We are hard on the outside
But soft on the inside
Just like America
Come along, my doggies
Move along
I've a wish to gallop this wide prairie
Follow the ocean of the stretching sky
Over my land
God's land
Before the settlers came the east was so
A weeping widow
Weeds of mourning
Covering your face
You hide in the dimmness of the Everglades
Moaning
For your nation
Alligator, alligator
O hidden devil of the Everglades
Feared by many
Murderor of children
And various other small creatures
Crooked toothy smiles
Slurping in the swamps
White snow
But then, what other color is it?
No, white fluffy lamb's wool
Soft
Oh
Cotton
White cotton
They say it is the color of beauty
Which means our brown fingers
Picking it
When we first dropped our belongings
In the clearing in the forest
Mama said we'd die the first winter.
Papa had been a potter back in Wales.
He knew next to nothing about building.
But he chopped some trees
You stand proud
Overlooking an emerald hill
Sloping down on a turquoise river
In this front your windows shine
Showing a beauty
Your classical pillars
Give an illusion of
A fine education
Small, and hidden among the hills
We go to receive the joy
Painted white by our own hands
Laboring together in industrial joy
In the spring, when the Easter is,
Sweet spraying kernels
Golden bumps on a hard core
Like a kind person with a stout heart
Bite it and it squirts
Eat like a baby again
Face smashed against wet juiciness
American fruit
We've been at sea for too long
I'm past illness now
But oh, how I yearn for land
I don't care if it's the New World
I'd even return to Scrooby or Plymouth
Say what my parents will about
America
Every family in America--or so it seems
Gathers around their television
To pay homage
To the god
Of sports and commercialism
To slouch on a couch
To enjoy
Ads that cost
Old traditions
Country brought to life again
We smell a wet grassy field
Hear the twang of banjos and the screeeeeeeeeech
Of fiddles
Smell roasting ham and sausages
Look at growing pumpkins
Go Team!
Go go go!
That wasn't a foul!
Idiot umpire!
Run! Steal!
Cotton candy makes my fingers stick
Sugary funnel cake filling me
To shout for the team
This is the field of Lexington
Where the war for our freedom was fought
This is the place where men died
So that our liberty could be bought
They were farmers and craftsmen most
Flying over the Rockies
Or Sierra Nevadas
Flying high like our whipping flag
Wind under wings
Flying like our nation
But an eagle cannot fly forever.
This world today is a tangled mess of opinions and hate and opinions and wait. Stepping outside is like stepping into a court room except both sides of the room are calling me guilty.
If you go outside
You will hear the sounds of a country
A country that used to be a place of refuge
That is now becoming the opposite
We are honoring those who fought and died for the USA.We are honoring our deceased soldiers on Memorial Day.Many soldiers fought and died so that every American can be free.
I am from the vast landscapes
Of the Horn of Africa
I am from the bitter-sweet coconuts
That fall from the pine trees
I am from Somalia
The Country that breeds my heritage
America The Brave
They say America is the land of the free and home to the brave.
But what about the minds here that enslaved?
Congratulations. You’ve done it.
With words of wisdom and liberty,
You can lean back and sit
Being A Hispanic was hard
The black sheep they say, the same but different
Looked at ashamed by the ones we call our people
looked at different by the country we said was united
The land is not free
Home of the depraved
We used to pride ourselves in a supposed red, white and blue
But with blindfolds on tight, we only see what we are told we see
When I ponder about life's existence,
I have patience rather than vanity
In the American experience-
USA, with gloat, loses sanity;
Grasping this entire world of disorder,
This is a special day because it's Veterans Day.We celebrate because certain people fought for the USA.Veterans put their lives on the line so that we can be free.Veterans are important to you and they're important to me.
In the eyes of the president, I’m a fucking rapist
In the eyes of the president, I don’t work for shit
In the eyes of the president, I’m a drug user
How many times,
Do we have to die?
How many times,
Does our blood have to fall?
How many times,
Will mothers bury their children?
There is no freedom here, not really anyway
You want your God?
Please, take it as it’s never answered any of our prayers
We need to have control.
Not control on how we’re taught or what we wear,
but on the weapons put on display to be seen everywhere.
Yes! People hear these rumors that black people are ghetto, poor, stupid, and just plain old UNEDUCATED.
Because of our skin color, we get judged.
Black= Puppet
Back home they say if you go to America
you will be free as a kite with no string
but here I am in America there’s a person
who is controlling me like a puppet
A flag draped coffin on a stifling day
With somber taps that seem to say
A grateful nation, as your dead we lay
Into this earth, in a special way
-
Salutes your service, and the life you gave
Once there was a kid
He was so lost in the world
He did not understand the unspoken rules
He did not know why people looked at him funny
Or why females clutched their purses while he walked by
You won’t see tears without pain
Wish I could control my rain
Wish I could control my brain
The same way seniors wish to be young again
My Youth
The World, the world, the world, Tiny, Big the world,
It’s round or square, it’s in the Air! It’s here or there, it’s everywhere,
It’s Blue, Green and full of We. It’s We the People, the Strong and Free.
I express my identity through poetry.
Who I am and who I hope to one day be
Bleeds through the tip of my pen
In a rush of eloquence,
My stream of consciousness.
We, the new generation, are the dream.
We, dentist smiles and thin, diet bodies.
Fluorescent lights, hope for a star to deem
I say that America
is screwed
That I don't want to
be here anymore
That I'm leaving first chance
I get
But as frustrated as I am
will I ever truly leave?
I used to be afraid.
Afraid to speak my mind in an unkind world
That shut my mouth for me before I even opened it.
I learned to sit down and shut up
Upon the lovely,
of America’s golden plains,
her monuments of past era,
made of steel and glass,
tempered with the fires of hope;
cast cold shadows
over astonishing rage of times.
I never learned how to apply for a loan.
I had to ask my mother how to buy a home.
My mind nearly collapses
Trying to file taxes.
Yet I feel like I’m expected
Not to be protected
America By: Tia Rowe
America, the Great for it, is modest
America, the Brave for it, is a coward
America always was America to Me.
From the day I was born, til this year of 23
It’s always been clear to see
I see red rivers of blood
not merely puddles
You would think that this is a horror story
But this a contiguous continuous struggle
America you are a bully
Let’s go back to times of peace.
Times when women didn’t have to fear walking alone in the dark just to go home,
And children didn’t have to fear their lives while learning how to read and do math,
To the world: "Doomsday strikes," prophets crow, from Fox and Twitter and NPR2012 has come again, An election, but one unfamiliar. "This country needs more unity,"
They're too fast
They speak of things I don't understand
Their lips are quick but their minds are slow here
I would rather be there
Here the harrowing hardships are fast
Not slow enough to listen
Dear Mr. Trump,
Do you hear the words you say?
Does is sound like a roar when you speak?
The hate will rot your teeth.
The racism will weaken your muscles.
The homophobia will wrinkle your skin.
For The Land:
America: With all your beauty and grace, your Miss United States,
Your pride and stars and stripes and stunning monuments dedicated to (racist) presidents past
To my son.
My baby has blood on his hands,
dripping red fingers
smeared across oceans and continents.
Imperialism breeds imperialism
and the apple doesn't fall
far from the tree.
We live in a world where hate is still here
We live in a world where you can be an unarmed black man but still get the nine bullets to your back
Speaking up equals speaking back
America’s my homeland.
I’m proud of where I live.
And when I see a flying flag.
I have respect to give.
Dear America,
From the dawn of time
You’ve been destined for greatness.
You’ve always found the need
To help people without reason
Dear friends against the people,
I am from the stories of the past
Compiled into the present.
Chicana they call me.
They say black lives don’t matter cause we out here killing each other.And when they see him all they think of is a thug.Another brother who’s gonna rot in the gutter.Get his picture ready for the newspaper.Tell his mother her son ain’t coming bac
As a child,
so fragile, so pure
you broke my confidence
as the blood rushed to my face
when you said that I would never be anything
in front of the whole class
Dear Heaven,
I am merely a stranger in search of a home
Your customs are rather unusual
Those of which I am willing to assimilate
Stories of your angels have been told in my land for ages
Dear America
Do you hear your bombs blasting overhead?
Do you hear the little children crying,
Do you see them dead?
O America,
Open your eyes!
See the destruction you have created,
Hurt and abusedLost and confusedFeeling accused, just by being you.The color of your skin does not define youThe length of your dreads does not disguise you. The way that you walk does not deprive youBut the way that your heart is will arise you.
What you know about the silence of the lambs
I'm not talking about that cross dresser shit.
I mean the way people today choose to live,
cowardly, afraid to speak up. Think differently,
We live in a society where it is more disgraceful to kneel before a flag than to stand for racism.
Where the KKK is seen as a group of “fine people” with jobs. Families. Lives worth protecting.
Oh America America what have you done
Treating them like animals what have you become,
with no interest we have thought of them
With no feelings we have trial them
Just have fun
Would have begun
If my worries didn't leave my mind in a blurry
A flurry of bad thoughts
Sad thoughts of me claiming its my fault
I fall and default to ending it all
Nothing smooth
What does it take to stay awake
And not hate
Every eye that passes by
Makes me wonder if they try
Or do they categorize
My kind within wicked lies
As if every time a brother dies
Eyes cold as
Concrete
Even when not walking the streets
The halls
So closed off
From the poverty we breath
Considered clean
Cuz the sheen
Easier's to see
Away from the hood
I'm Into beats
That start up is sweet
So I'm ready to leap
Not to compete
That's for survival
That's not a lie though
You know you gotta show
How flows can leave your foes froze
Ride the wave
The pain will never go away
So keep rolling with this way of seeing
Being that as it is
We are sent to die
For a cause
And for justice
But who knows why
My tears drop silently
Through the misty air
Nothing can be heard
If we ever cared
What's in it for me
Besides putrid insanity
What will it take to rise
Destroying my disguise
When will I see
Fruitions of being happy
What happened to respect exactly
What's intact is that I watch my back
Wondering when one close
Decides to hide inside
The lies of emotional ties
My emotions move slow
Trying to keep my head low
I'm pent up
And ready to blow
That's what I know
I'm sick
I'm lonely
And home sick
Missing kid shit
And wanting to split
We were fine,
My mother had money,
Built a new house,
We lived in a good, thriving neighborhood.
We didn't know what we escaped would slowly creep up on us.
Gunshots echoed across our community
Abuse brings abuse
The cycle creates psychos
And will continue
To apprehend you
Even while you smile
The vile style
Is not easy to hide
We dive into our psyche
And see stressful times
When will I see
Fruitions of being happy
What happened to respect exactly
What's intact is that I watch my back
Wondering when one close
Decides to hide inside
The lies of emotional ties
Apprehending our creativity,
Plotting the downfall of our nationality,
Rioting about discrimination,
in a country with more rights than any.
Staring at the enemy,
making them pray.
Lead hands,
Too heavy to move,
I would have built you a mountain.
But
I no longer care.
I just have one thing to say.
“Fuck you.”
I was bleeding
stripes
You are the ones,
Who defend.
You are the ones,
Who protect.
Be honored,
Young or old.
No matter what war,
For you, we respect.
We didn't start the fire,
That's what they say.
And each generation,
Must suffer and pay.
Don't ruin the country,
I love or behold!
Ruin, decay, destruction...
Never will I waver,
From love of this land,
Never will I fail,
To stay and stand,
Shouting with a great voice unto all:
"This land, God's joy!
Justice for all."
Politics & Religion
Were never meant for polite society
My parents taught me.
But polite society doesn't exist
At least in this day and age.
Now and again vulgarities show
Marring perfect plans
The great American eclips
was supposed to be the end of the world.
I spent it at work.
One o'clock rolled around,
And the world turned into a graveyard.
All the workers shuffled outside to see.
WE are the children of America
The children of those who traveled land and sea.
The children of those who plowed fields and picked trees.
This is a group poem for four people, each person representing a number. I might add more to it soon :-)
1) On June 21 in UK, two citizens were attacked with acid - scarring their body
2)Just as acid hurts you physically
Well if they knew that we were political,
We'd be done for.
Because they helped build new york
But people from new york are broken themselves.
And in spite of their open arms
There was a foolish President by the name of Donald Trump,
Elected as a leader as the least of two great evils,
Who seldom did much else except for sitting on his rump
I too, hear America singing
Many millions of songs.
I hear the song of my teachers
All they say is listen.
I, too, sing America.
I am determined.
They say I don’t have common sense
They don’t think I can manage myself.
But I know what I am capable of,
[read with sarcasm and rhythm]
Right now, we fear the seductive and dangerous night,
America the Brave
But only if one behaves
Eagles fish
and only dare swim
when humanity pressures habitat..
to that
where idols act on whim
Heart wrenched from ocean
Right to left, left to rightwe are safe, in the dark of night.With the moon beaming on our pale skin, oh so brightdon't suck my soul out, scream with all our might.Listen to the slow vibrations, the tiny sleeping bees
All my life I've lived here
I've pledged to an inanimate object
I never actually cared too much about that
But after years upon years of learning
Only now are my eyes open...
TYRANNY
I have no culture.
No, apparently this is possible:
For one to have NO culture.
Because culture is based on social
Groupings based on mutual
Ethnicity, Language, Culture, Interests, Music, Ideals...
America's Oxygen
We boast about being brave and being free
But maybe that ain't as true as it means to be
We built this country on God and trust
But sadly our ways of life begin to rust
In a world built by the blood, sweat, and tears of people who look like meFrom the fields to front officesFrom the streets to street prophetsThey look at us and still see the whips and chainsThey owned us
Welcome to America.
The Land for the Free.
Be whoever you choose.
As long as we agree.
Welcome to this country
There are things they Try to Convey.
The Dreams, the Goals, Freedom...
I am the hairy Mexican girl your daughter makes fun of at school
The one whose mother you don't look in the eyes when she's your cashier at the gas station
You know me
"America the Great!"
They shout to the crowds
"America the Great!" they scream.
I watch on and wonder if
America is as great as she seems.
"America the Great!"
“I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands
one nation, under God…indivisible?
With liberty and jus– ”
Empty gestures plague these lands,
For what does that American flag really stand?
"Brothers and Sisters", bloodied and bruised,
Fight each other, for one another, confused
Misdirected by the media hand.
Every single day without fail a voice would blare out the words to an anthem that we loyally repeated,
Right hand over our heart
Left hand behind our back
My whole life I was told how lucky I am
To be born in this country led by Uncle Sam.
I am lucky that I am not starving or dying
But if I tell you I love it here, I’d be lying.
My country, ‘tis of thee
Dead land of liberty.
Of thee I sing;
“Where is the equality?”
Land where my culture died
On every mountainside
Please let freedom sing
*Silence*
Since age 5 I've recited the pledge,
Day after day.
It never made me feel any certain way.
1992marks the yearmy grandmotherfinallymade it to the United States. 2017marks the year she becamea citizen. somewhere in betweenthose yearsI realizedAmericadoes not look like me.soon after came the realization thatAmerica only lovesa familiar fac
America the Great.
America that is mixed like a blender
but judges based on race
and a someone's gender.
America the Great.
Why do you hate me?
Is it the color of my face?
I composed my song of unspoken apologies
Echoing like the ancient lands’ mythologies
It sang of red, white, and blue,
Of thinkers, speakers, revolutionaries too.
Welcome to my country
My home and my land
My pride and joy
My country
The place of freedom
Tell me the Story of America
I don't mean the story of red, white, and blue
I mean the story of those with skin of a different hue
Taught to be ashamed
As one, we are the people.
As one, we are the world power.
As one, We were once the United States of America.
Slowly, but oh! so slowly...
The rivers came,
angered,
shunned,
alone.
Oh beautiful in your clouded eyes
Is wantonly wasted time.
But purpled culture garish seems
In lives passed lighted lime.
America! America! The web your culture proves.
America
Known as the land of the free
But are we really free?
Discrimination is still evident
People are told they don't belong in our country because of the way they look or speak
America is a puzzle.
The people are the pieces.
Pieces that come in all shapes, sizes, and colors.
Each piece is made of wood
That comes from all over.
Mexico, Canada, Poland, Germany, Japan, China and India.
Land of the free, home of the braveThat's what we're all taughtBut is it bravery or cockiness when a white man with a gun walks into a Little Caesar's and orders with a smooth voi
Anya Zebell
10 May 2017
Adopting a New Land
When I moved from Ukraine
there was a lot of pain
New faces
New places
I didn't know what to think
let alone, let it sink
Land of the free, home of the brave
A prideful, great nation built on the mounds of forgotten Native American graves
Built on the backs of still unnamed and chained slaves
But of course, everything has changed
In school I used to say
---”I pledge allegiance,”
to America,
a country I now,
struggle to remember my allegiance to.
How can I pledge allegiance to the flag
when America has never been great
How do we stand for the Republic
when the fourteen points of fascism
have become a checklist
How are we under God
America.The free, the brave, the strong.Common words, placed in common songs.We claim to be the truth,We’ve been lying all along.When opinion masquerades as fact
America.The free, the brave, the strong.Common words, placed in common songs.We claim to be the truth,We’ve been lying all along.When opinion masquerades as fact
WiTh lIbErTy and JuSTicE fOR AlL
is what many refuse to say,
how can an old message become less true,
our president wanting to get back to old roots,
sadly his trees are losing fruit,
Muslim Bans,
America the
For∙mi∙da∙ble: “Inspiring fear, or
respect
through being impressively large, powerful, intense or capable.”
America is
A dangerously beautiful display
Of wild devotion and the will to act
Has moved the souls of tiny men today
To change the world, to make a Faustian pact:
They paid for freedom, each their own, it seems,
America is backwards
Acirema
She preaches for justice
yet she encourages hate
Giving a policeman a Pepsi
is not the solution
The great I know is the one that tells the thieves' liesPeace and happiness you decide your own lifeBut once lives are taken for reasons of the unknown Concepts such as hatred, as to detest our natural skintoneThey say I might die tonight, I might
Nation divided,
many improvements needed
a more open Trump
must reflect upon the wise moon
GOD is pretty great
Founding fathers agreed to
Trust a lot in Him
RACISM is bad
No one really thinks it's cool
Please let's stop it now
EQUAL are all men
What is love without the hate?
Isn't that the grand debate?
But if the bad were to deteriorate,
there would be nothing for us to appreciate.
When did the world get to this state?
“America the great” or that's how they want it to seem
A country that glorifies war but if they see a black person they scream
Pleading only mercy in a war they created
My country tis of thee
Wish you'd stop shooting me
And all my kin
All made from the same clay
No matter what you say
A fallen flag can't stop me from falling for you.Even after all the discrimination and racism I still find myself proud to be called an American.
With saddest regards
I sell allegiance to the flag
Because for the first time in my life I worry about my peers tint
Of the Disunited States of America
Where acceptance for LGBT was gained but ripped away
Land of the free, with liberty and justice for all.
Thousands of lifeless voices swell together.
All if you are white,
All if you are rich,
All if you are “normal.”
But inside they cry,
Mother America, why have you forsaken me?
Is standing for your anthem never enough to hear my plea?
Haven't you seen the calloused heart of your abused, gay foster daughter, Mother America?
It is times like this,
I have never been happier being black and alive.
Being woman and survivor,
Being odd and being ok with it.
It is times like this I have never been happier being all this,
Oh say can you see
By the dawn’s early light
Narcissism and bureaucracy
Have distorted our sight
Oh say can you see
Our criminal justice system favors the rich
America,
The Beautiful?
Home of the enslaved,
Where those who are brave,
Are said to have no brain,
Where freedom of speech is limited,
Do you see now?
Our hate is causing people to bleed out.
Our love has disappeared into thin air.
The air which we steal from the lungs of another.
Bang, bang, pop, pop, DEAD
The color of America's freedom
comes bleeding from the head
A life that was once true
is now a sentence within a jail
A vision that once was America's dream
Guns, death, anger at race Too many times have tears rolled a face To cry is to express pain and distress America seems to be in that state of mess
Yes, I can see them by the sunset’s gloom,
Those who I enveloped with my undulating figure,
Whose many shapes and colors through the presence of doom,
America is the land of the free
Dreams achieved further than you can see
This amazing country prosperous and well
but in reality america is all hell
a land for anyone to come
America the Great, or is it really so?
People crying and dying, realize no means no.
Rape culture, please do not touch me down there.
Terrorists? They're just people, don't be so scared.
Freedom of speech as long as everyone agrees.
I’m afraid to voice an opinion and be taken out of phrase.
Your opinion is only important if you make it the same
There’s always been problems
That much is a fact.
From the moment the pilgrims stepped foot on this land.
They were refugees
Fleeing from religious oppression
That made themselves a home
America, America, How beautiful you are.
From your red and white stripes, to each and every spangled star.
The places you behold, are loved by so many.
I would know best, for I have visited plenty!
Oh say can you see
America I breathe
Powerful and free
Stop trying to bring us down
The best in the world
But I am only a girl
Am I allowed to dream?
Welcome
Welcome to the big leagues kid
Wait a minute
Are those "foreign" shoes? ..... you can't use those here
Do you know English?
There is a spray tan in the oval office.
I don’t want to hear from the Tangerine Man about his wall.
The word ‘them’ has a greater capacity to separate people than any wall.
Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early darkness,
surrounding me in this prison, killing me,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming
is our incredibly racist past,
Surely there’s more to life than this Surely there’s more to life than to grow up, to wake up only to feel the need to resist I hear the constant string of yelling, I hear the crowds rebellingI hear cries of children as their homes are blown, I he
My country tis of thee, foul land of misery
That’s what I see
Land of the white man’s lies
Land of the minorities’ cries
That’s what I see
The worlds got it all wrong
The story begins long ago,
A new world they called it,
Ready for civilization.
Like a diamond in the dark,
Its heart began to pump the blood
Of freedom.
Freedom from
And freedom to,
Go- fight on the front lines.
Sacrifice, bleed, die.
Go- protest, march, scream,
For your rights.
Participate in this America.
Built on the backs of a people we chained
People fought for me to speak and not be persecuted
They fought for every opinion to be safe to hang in the air of this country
But instead it simply binds with the smog
For those who disagree to shove down my throat
America the Great. I see you. Bold in your Red, White, and Beauty
Wrapped in the Stars wished upon by a down south Negro child unknowingly part of a civil rights movement.
Our lady stands upon her pedestal,
Her brazen torch a beacon for the free,
For in her stance, she breaches the hull,
Her sirens song, arise the refugee,
To close our walls, such a righteous disguise,
Each breath taken is
An exercise,
An experiment that stretches the definition of "American,"
Attempting to find the extent of a definition on paper
And applying it to a person who lives and breathes and grows,
The thought of someone out there
Believing they do not matter,
Because their president says so.
The satisfied looks on the faces of people
Who have never valued those different than themselves.
Dear America,
Why is it that I’m over $40,000 in debt with student loans and I have yet to make $40,000 a year?
Dear America,
Why is it that my blackness alone is a reason for our police to shoot and kill?
America the Lost
When people say “America the Great”
They are almost unwaveringly supporting
An America of Hate.
Forget the blood lines that make our trees bright red
Forget the colors that highlight our lively skin
Brothers, sister, mothers and fathers
We are all something bigger, better and stronger
Yet…
make america Great again.Make America Great Again?Was it ever Great to begin withThe United States of America Was hardly
Great
Has integrity
Is not soft spoken
Is strong but not unfeeling
Is resilient through suffering
Is forgiving but never a doormat
America
Has abandoned the poor
Great
Has integrity
Is not soft spoken
Is strong but not unfeeling
Is resilient through suffering
Is forgiving but never a doormat
America
Has abandoned the poor
As you can see America is filled with the "American Dream"
but the American Dream is usually described as everyone having
"equal opporunity to achieve success and prosperity."
Change is something that is so sought for,
Yet so feared.
When the war came to an end,
The freedom we wanted neared.
Does the shape America is in reflect what our forefathers so valiantly fought for?
America is a place of love ,
a gift given from the lord above .
a place for chances and for life,
being successful comes from strife.
times will be hard , times will be trying
America, land of the free
Home of liberty, I would disagree
Full of freedom? We barely make the top twenty
We ask for diversity they say, "We've got plenty."
We fight for what's right,
in lieu of a new administration,
america's young immigrants are facing a sort of... frustration.
through broken occasion and high school graduation,
by hell and high water and maturation,
America, the great dream
That lured so many
Still a renounced temptation
America the great dream of more
More land, more space, more freedom
You can breath
There is room to grow
America, land of the free.
America, home of the brave.
America, home of the immigrant.
Change is seen as scary, terrifying,
Donald Trump plans on putting "America First."
It seems like that could succeed.
Depending first, on what "America First" means
and exactly what is guaranteed.
"America First" would mean supplying our people
Our flag still waves for what makes us great,
Yet it's mangled in places from a tremendous weight.
People are laughing and crying at our new state,
But deep down know there's much more at stake.
They see me
just a brown woman,
they fear those blessed
and melanin infused
with strong pigment
and color,
A true badge of honor,
Land of the free
And home of the brave
That’s what they’d say. Yes,
That’s what they say.
But then like a plague
we're proud to be americans
land of the free, home of the brave
but is she proud of us,
or does she toss and turn in her grave?
dreaming of what once was
a land of peace and kin,
"it's not over yet"
she said
weeping over the dead bodies that lay lifeless and wet
the rain came down hard and quick
it's not over yet
I grew up in America,
America the beautiful.
But somehow along the way things changed,
I do not recognize my country now.
I miss her more every day.
America the beautiful,With red, white, and blue,Welcoming to both me and you,A land of opportunity but for who? Red blood stain the streets,With senseless violence and rubber bullets,Tear gas blinds your eyes, and you can no longer breath,For as
America.It is known asThe land of the great.But as days go byIt brims with more and more hate.
Battle
We the people have an obligation
To escape this persecution in search
Of a world in which we can be free
Victory
Now that the hard work is done
And over with, we deserve a break
America. She used to belong to everyone and she was okay with it. Rumor has it that an Englishman found her & sold her some dreams.
america the great?
america without a title
america who has neglected its people time and again
america who listens no to those in need but to those who pay the most
I was told to learn the hidden vernacular of shame.
Deep down I knew who I was,
But not the others.
I was told that just because I am a citizen
It does not make me an American.
Strange fruit swinging in the rain,
waves crashing against the stern of the ship,
feet marching upon weeping waterfalls,
words on faded papyrus, constituting nothing more now
than when the ink was waiting to dry.
Although I was not born here, America is my home.
As my early memories came, America was never far from my mind.
To the country I am willing to die for, as I serve in the Military.
America the beautiful.
America the great.
While your chemical plants might be fruitful,
Your greed is driving you to a gloomy fate.
While your media distracts us with talk of celebrities' lives,
Protected
Strong
The flag ripples in the wind
so beautiful, frail, strong
like our soldiers
starting as frail beautiful people
Bounded by Red, White, and Blue shackles
We stand one Nation, under God
In the unemployment line.
Thirteen Red stripes
America, America land of the free
Where we can be ourselves, true and free
America, America land of the free
We are all brothers, and sisters, in the land of the free
We keep our voices loud, and proud, we are free
I pledge Allegiance to the flag
for the DIVIDED of AMERICA.
A place your free and knowledge is key
but black hoodies couldn't be more scarier.
I pledge Allegiance to the flag
America the great -
where litter rots in the streets
where people live in poverty
where the news is horrifying
where shootings are rampant
Slavery and human rights violations. Ugly, like a scab. Rough and hurts like a stab. But little by little, begins to heal; the aching sore that is a big deal. Slowly but surely, progress is being made, as hate begins to fade.
America the beautiful
Where does your beauty lie?
Is it only surface deep
Like makeup used to cover scars that pierce inside?
And Mother Liberty,
You turn away refugees
First, they robbed, killed, and enslaved the Arawaks,
They smothered the indigenous with Smallpox blankets,
And they built an economy on the scarred backs of slaves.
Then they blazed a trail of tears,
Land of the free? More like land of the fee.
Changes need to hapen before we all flee.
America is not the same because we are not glee.
Men are not equal.
Power and money makes mankind evil.
America.
It's all I've ever known.
Except some bordering mexican cities, this is my home.
But home isn't always your safe place. Home can mean arguments and separation.
My heart doth beat faster, when I view o'er the world
The Star-Spangled Banner in glory unfurled.
'Tis fitting and proper that it should so be
Since our land was the progenitor of the free.
I pledge allegiance to the women
whose mouths never stopped moving,
even when their hearts have been weathered
weary by the lead that replaced their blood
The class stands as one;
A uniform system perfected from years of repetiton
As the students recite their patriotic manifesto
The individuality that allows students to endure the day
I think America is great
But we need to get a few things straight
Unemployment is at a crazy rate
This doesn’t have to be America’s fate
At 7:30
Every morning,
In robotic voices,
We pledge our loyalty to our country.
Are our voices robotic
Because of repetition?
America: God bless you if it's good to ya.
No rants about skin color but vent when the temp is up--why not?
Freedom of speech clouds my inner circle,
I am free
And I am great
Yet, Still I seem
To boil with hate
My residents have rights
And they continue to appear
Yet, they complain and fight
As I live in fear
A nation dedicated
To equality is great.
On paper,
No nation greater.
But if all men are created equal
America, Americathe land of the freeAmerica the beautifulbuilt on bravery
But are we as boundlessas we claim to be?
America,The land of the free and home of the brave,The ‘epitome of freedom’ that is said to have saved,Those who were previously held and enslaved From those in our society who corrupt and deprave. America’s real intentions are disputed, Our leade
America
How could you?
I trusted you,
I believed in you,
And now with every passing day I weep
As this once great nation is now in shambles.
How could we stray so far
America the land I love
America the free
Its beauty and its majesty just seem to capture me
I love everything about it
All of its fifty states
America my home and pride is all so great
I read a book that said,
There is one kind of prison where you are inside,
and the things you want are outside,
There is another kind of prison where you are outside,
and the things you want are inside.
O'Merica,
My brown colored skin was never considered competition,
Instead it's laughed at behind closed doors,
Growing up I often wondered,
Quite often actually,
What people died to come here for,
America isn't great, nor, will it ever be because
We sexualize young women but
tell them to wait until marriage.
she cringed every time your fingertips traced down her back, pulling her closer to you.
Where are you America the Beautiful?
All I can see is:
political turmoil and civil unrest
tensions are building with no signs of stopping
Is anyone listening?
what happend to we the people
America’s greatness spreads wide for everyone to seeThe Nation's bubbles for the world and me, brings unity,The People our nationSelfish and corrupt with cloutThe color of my skin leaves me with doubt The constant eyes and ears Looking down judgin
For all the lives lost and the wars won you would think America would stand by its national anthem where we are all equal.
The Founding Fathers skin would crawl and their faces would show appall.
Our Country is falling apart, busting at the seams with people being mean.
We the People? More like we the feeble.
America, my beautiful America how great.
The place I am proud to call home; where I belong.
From urban city to rural land; it's perfect bait.
We welcome new comers with our sweet tuned song.
America the Beautiful
With the open fields and high mountains
And the clouds dancing across the skyline
America the Strong
With a military protecting our citizens
And our citizens protecting our rights
My Country 'Tis Of Thee
Sweet land of poverty
For Thee I weep.
Land where the innocent died,
Land where we lost our pride,
From cityscape to countryside
Let freedom ring.
Mother America
I am did feed thy milketh
Her breasts were consumed with youth.
A preliminary smile that inspired a nation yet to be conceived.
Yes, I can see, not by the dawn’s early light,
But by a smirk from a Speaker of the House.
A smirk that just escaped a crime of murder.
I do not proudly hail a man who has
Violated the privacy of a woman,
The picture painted is one of pride
One of acceptance and freedom
One of opportunity and trust
Stories passed down are those of victory
Those of heroic extrication
And those of dreams fulfilled
"Would everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance."These are words I hear every day.And every day I watch my classmates standand salute a flag that waves for this countrypledging loyalty.
America the Great
At keeping
Gun violence alive
America the Great
At avoiding
The hungry and deprived
It was Wednesday, November 9th, the day after
Our heads throbbed with the reality
that Donald Trump won, and Hillary Clinton lost.
Our eyes spilled over, like an uncontrollable landslide,
blocking the road ahead.
Make America Great Again,
America was Great.
America was Great,
January,
The third friday,
The 20th,
America the Great
Not America the Perfect
Sure, our nation's great
But there’s things we haven’t learned yet
There’s people that are dying
There’s many who need helping
A melting pot society
America, once beautiful -
When will you appear as the stories say?
With your ragged past, were you ever great?
Perhaps achieving ‘great again’ is not the way.
Method of attack,
Walking while black.
What is your job,
Remove the hijab.
White man's burden,
Forbid the turban.
America's favorite past time,
Make immigrating The Crime.
Abusing, no.
Land of the free, home of the brave.
Will not being able to afford health insurance, force me into an early grave?
The land of opportunity
where all can rise beyond
no class, no division
freedom and prosperity at will.
Work hard
reach for the stars
taste ambition
dream of "success".
See my reflection on your white skin
You shout "Reciprocated racism!"
No.
Stop.
Listen.
These are the effects of our cause
The results of oppression
You tell me this is the land of the free
The land of opportunity
Then why do I see
oppression all around me?
Why has a country so great
Americas usually know for the great things that they have done. But is it really all that great?
Can you still see,
Dawn breaking over the horizon?
Or are more visceral affairs
Clouding your vision
And affecting how you make decisions?
What do you see?
Do you see what I see?
A land constantly in struggle between freedom and equality?
O say can you see the anger in people's eyes,
Hear the pain in people's cries,
Mr. Reagan, you've slaughtered a generation,
one of pure Imagination
, and disseminated false information.
Because of that they were not bothered.
Darling souls left un-mothered,
Simply stunning
stars on a block of blue fabric
blown by the wind,
shooting
left and right
like the bullets between
our soldiers
We the people
We the people divided
We the people alienated
We the varied
We the broken.
We who break each other down
and hide behind the pieces.
We who have bled,
The country with the red, white, and green
Or is the red, white, and blue
To me it does not matter
But for others it does
Where someone comes from
it is important.
Turning away from the innocent has become a trend
It seems good has become something we dread.
We stand up to proclaim how great our lives are
While others take a knee, because apparently, we've gone too far
My country has the sounds of freedom.
My country has the laws of justice.
My country has the land of liberty.
My country is my home.
It is a home to me and to many alike and unlike me.
Minorities join together,
Speeches written on their suffrage.
Couplets composed with words like leather,
America, the land of the free.
But are we? Are we free?
Blacks, Hispanics, Whites,
Those are our names, what we are known for.
We are known as nothing more.
A melting pot, but why is it boiling?
Born into a place that depicits my race as something bad, as something less than them.
Born into a place that thrives on the white face.
That white is pure and anything of color is a disgrace.
America the free, America the brave
America where I am looked down upon for the cadence of my name
America where my people are slaughtered in the streets
America where murderers with a badge walk free
Free we were and will continue to be
We love freedom, let's let it ring
Race, color, gender and liberty
Will continue to resonate through me
America was once something of hope and dreams
A Dream to be whoever you worked hard enough to be and to live in peace and harmony
Round and round the wheel of time goes;
Where she stops, nobody knows.
As tides come red and pebbles turn black.
Name a virtue which we today lack.
We have TVs, and treadmills, and shiny things too,
We left our hearts
to live in our heads.
It was supposed to get easier
but compassion is dead.
Driven by money
and heavy with pain;
The blood on the ground
runs in each of our veins.
I'm not proud to say I'm from here,
because I really disagree.
Mr. President have you forgotten?
What is humanity
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain
The chorus rings in my living room as we sing,
My father clumsily playing the piano
And my brother and I singing off-key.
Why does a country full of such beautiful faces
always try to put people into their places?
Mouths that discriminate run free
making others scared to breathe.
Some too focused on the faces
My America is red;
Cherry lemonade by the side of a pool
In the summer of my childhood
Lips stained with sugary popsicles and fresh watermelon.
It is red like Coca Cola;
The kind from glass bottles
Color encompassing unfamiliar faces
All united under one familiar flag soaring high
Unknown are the backgrounds, but defined are the races
Gathering and discussing under one sky
America the beautiful
Pretty on the outisde
Not so pretty on the inside
Prisoners are not getting the help they need
They just suffer in silence
Most in there for a crime they never did
America’s AmmunitionThe Devil's in the White City
Drenched our Angels in red
Never help us when we Bleed
More Power telling how we Bled
Once a star, shining bright to see,
America, the great, land of the free,
Has faded slightly in recent time,
But America is not dismayed,
To the top, We shall climb.
Uncertainty may plague us,
The torn and battered flag waves
In the scorched heat of the plantation
hovering over
the slaves that build America.
Bent bare backs walking the fields
We could create the internet
An immeasurable amount of information
Stored in just as many networks
But we could not keep children safe from exploitation.
Traffic lights stay at a steady red
Reflecting on life's motion
Dropping down what I see with lead
Depicting the faces of no emotion
Running down an endless path
A knock on the door late at night
An unexpected guest
Terrible circumstances
And an uninviting host
The guest is asking for simple things
A corner to sleep in
Perhaps a glass of water
need to be made in the great US of A a great democracy was ruined by greed and rich in a powerful way a democracy corrupted by the money sucking machine, taxes the middle class so hard in hopes of wiping the nation debt clean, we need to stop bei
The Nation of Dreams
The Nation that Gleams
the nation that covers their ears from the screams.
Am I Brave, as they say?
Or do I continue for my fear
Of failing?
Equality, Individuality
Unity, Diversity
The archaic American Ideals
(This poem was written in response to the murders of Carter Davis and Natalie Henderson in 2016.
The students lived in my local area. I hope they find peace in heaven.)
Come with me and see,
the lovers by the sea.
They are holding hands,
and make wedding plans.
I hope they stay together,
E Pluribus Unum.
Out of many,
One.
One lost hope,
One country fallen from grace,
One administration
God Bless America
God Bless America, if America blesses you
God Bless America
God Bless America, that red, white, and blue
What does a color mean?
America, the land of the free and home of the brave
America, the land of the enslaved and home of the depressed
We sit here unabled to believe you when we can't even believe oursleves
Have a glass with me, sweetheart
We'll forget the execution
If you don't move a muscle
You'll take pride in revolution
Raise your hand to your heart
Let inhibitions run loose
That's the way to cope
O say can you see
America the free
A place for you and me
A land of greatness
But only corruption I see
Sometimes I wonder what it’d be like if I was white
I believe my life would completely change if I was white
I wouldn’t be closely watched as I walk through a store, if I was white
We who think we are the greatest,
Don't look to the news that is latest,
Chaos and trouble that will break us,
Think about it, because it is on us.
she stands still over the Hudson,
gleaming no longer
tired
and
proud
ever lifting her hope to the sun,
steadfastly reminding her people of Lazurus' song
Higher taxes for the rich,
To let others' lives go without a hitch.
Equal opportunity for all,
Even for those who aren't tall.
My America is coming soon,
But with work, we can make it bloom.
Do you want change?
I’m not talking about the loose one.
Do you want freedom,
You won’t answer
when we drop to our knees,
submit.
A boy shot in the street
for wearing a hooded sweatshirt.
Perfection should not
be searched for; uniqueness should
die with its finding.
The above haiku I wrote years ago;
It is one that I have liv'd by.
Remember when the sky was blue?
When there were no planes nor motors too.
The days of travel dragged on and on,
often taking lives like falling flies.
But as time moved on,
the hardships were gone.
"The Land of the Free"
Was written by White men
As they fearlessly planted their feet on the black and brown bodies they burnt and bled to get there
And did not stop to smell the irony
Blessed with the gift of freedom
We’re constantly at war with an idea
The idea of being true to ourselves and to each other
I sit, looking out, seeing PEOPLE, PLACES MOMENTS
What should America be?
A country fo you? Or for me?
Most would say "The greatest nation in the world"
That's an easy answer, for a not-so-easy girl
But why? What makes us great?
Our money? Or lucky fates?
America
The land of the free
The land of Opportunity
However, the need for jobs
Is a huge deal that calls for attention
We need to put in place some sort of gurantee
That citizens of this great country
Land of the FREE
All good all bad it's never just that easy
Once great, great again? Please try and believe me
Being part of America isn't a treat
People still shoot us down, cuffs on our hands and our feet
People from different races fight all around us,
cops caught in the middle
1492.
The year America stopped being great,
and turned into a country full of abusement,
a center of hate.
“America the Beautiful"
Many a times I have heard
But beauty is subjective
Beautiful to thy neighbor
But to me, empty words
“America the Great”
I have heard time and time again
Our god is green so things are never as they seem,Freedom rings but are we really free?People still being exploited like the Cree,In the land of history repeated,Was hatred every truly defeated? When Lincoln died, he believed us to be unified,Jim
America,
America, land of the free
But when did it become about negativity?
From racial slurs to political hate
When did discussions become arguments?
Oh say can you see, the wall being built? The country we once knew now thrown on a tilt.The Dawns early light is from nuclear bombs.People praying in church reading a psalm.For this country, once so strong, now led by a man who acts before he t
They called it the free world,
Where people came from around the globe,
Where people came seeking freedom,
And now walk in fear.
What land of opportunity?
Whoever came up with the name America the Great, I would like to ask you what makes it so great?
The fact that it’s full of hate?
War hungry yet peace seeking.
Assault rifles for protection.
White privilege in a country built on immigrants.
Home of the brave but afraid of innocent Muslims.
Stunning America, a special child from birth/Freedom her absent father, Liberty her mother/At a ripe young age she would have to prove her worth/And join forces with Justice, her unborn brother/ When Justice was born, a premature being was he/His
Back then the world had just become round,
the map curling and folding,
from a rectangle into a globe.
The people came from
the eastern ocean and thrust
their flags into the ground.
We live, we laugh, we love, we
Die
Tv, Blu ray, Galaxy S
Whatever
We talk over
Facebook
No connection
1776.
This was a time the world needed a fix.
A strong stand against tyranny, a fight for freedom.
Our Founding Fathers stepped in,
Men found taking a stand against other men.
Yet again.
America is violence.
America is a land, “where all men are created equal”
But what happens when those men are people of color, Islamic, gay, or female.
The war on drugs still rages on
In the slums of harlem, the slums of detroit.
We pride ourselves on a free market but the most
Free of all is one we do not allow.
America the great, is not so great,
Or rather great with imperfections
That impede its equal opportunity gate.
Even if pointed in the right direction
If the colors stay true
America will roll through
Through thick and thin
America has been
On gloomy nights
and disastrous mornings
we challenged evil
and fought mischief when we could
at this time of great unrest
our nation stands
divided
in a civil war of prose
snowflakes and nazis
aliens and terrorists
little do our people know
pride comes before the fall
America the Great, or so she used to be...
We the people traded in our life and liberty.
We're slaves to media now
surrounded by what other people think,
struggling for independence like a spider in a sink.
To live in a society
Of
Love, Altruism, Harmony;
Where all my brothers and sisters not just by blood but by humanity,
It’s recess time and the school playground is filled with laughter.
The kids are reciting tongue twisters like the pledge of allegiance.
Free, free, free
They all want to be
But what is the cost?
We bleed red, white and blue, but crimson runs the thickest and disppears in one swig
Death by hunger, death by war, death by the pig
a sickness is not cured
by wrapping a thin blanket
around the sore throat
that exposes injustice.
a symbol does not hold
more value over a person.
an object that requires a steady wind
from the steps of lewis and clark
to the marches of those fighting
war of 1812,
mexican american 1846
civil war 1861
the boats of immigrants wanting better life
The Canvas
By Amanda P
A blank canvas sits upon an easel
No color, no words, no expectations
“Oh say! can you see
By the dawn’s early light.”
A land of inequities,
And people cowering in fright.
Masses of refugees
Come home to this sight.
Oh, America the Great! Where do I start? What do I say?
Oh yes, the country where you had to wait long for your rights because you are gay
Young kids following the media, wandering ever aimlessly into their demise
They say they want to make America great again
But to them, I ask, when was it great?
Was it great in the 1950’s when little black girls and little black boys
My America is yours too
Our America is colorful
It is sprinkled with all types of race
dashed with culture
with handfuls of acceptance
Our America is full of love
love for others and love for itself
I pledge allegiance
But to a flag?
If we’re indivisible
Why do I feel invisible?
For which I stand
I will be told to sit
1 million kids
But only the 1% matters
1 million times more wealth
I don't want to take your jobs, or have your money-
I don't want your welfare, property, or clothes.
I don't want to take advantage of your health care or social security-
A country built on the backs of its people
By the hands of its hopeful eyed migrants and slaves
Yet we are burning ourselves alive
I was told
Miedo saw the spot on his car
It was small, hard to see from a far
He knew he could hide it from the public for now
Yet sooner or later it would be revealed somehow
He thought of the money he didn't have
Miedo saw the spot on his car
It was small, hard to see from a far
He knew he could hide it from the public for now
Yet sooner or later it would be revealed somehow
He thought of the money he didn't have
America, America
Red, white, and blue
You’re the home of the brave
You’re the land of the people, of the free
Guns don't help American society.
Need Less bomds, less guns, more aid.
Soical plans only help America.
America is greatbut the people who made is great don't get to experience it
when profits are low they cut jobs instead of their paychecksthe only people who feel the burden are the ones just trying to scrape by
It all started with the Drums.
That steady beating that created towers and slums.
Steady beating for those wounded and fallen,
Drumming for those who were beaten and forgotten
All were supposed to seen as a patriot,
(America Poem) a Quartet of horse-Men/Women/People/Children of Apathetic Apocalypse! and redemption-
part one:
IAMIAMIAM, or
Is this how you think? I am trying to understand
1.1: the moderate
I dressed my baby!*
Red for the color of her first car that she was so ecstatic about,
For the stop sign she saw the other driver disregard,
I sit here in the morning
Sipping my coffee.
Every single day
Something stops me.
I read the news,
A disaster here and there,
A sprinkle of protest,
A dash of terrorism,
We are a land of the United,
Of Justice and Freedom,
Yet, here we are--the most divided of them all.
Going day by day,
Yelling,
Hating,
Cursing,
May your freedoms exist in writing and enchant you with hopeMay your liberties inspire a change in your soulMay your fantasy of a perfect reality be taught in school classrooms
I can hear the soft murmurs of laughter
and the joyful noise of friendship fills my ears,
In front of me snaps of red fizzle down the dark purple sunset
and booms of blue light up my eyes,
One day
We'd be free they said
We'd be liberated
If that's true
Then why are there still shackles
Weighing down my every move
Preventing me to take even the slightest step forward
America was created for all
No matter what size even short or tall
Yet not everyone is treated the same
Throughout the years there has been little to no change
The demand for equality is great
Slaves, wars, and riots
Our history is terrible
We cannot deny that
Allowing innocents to be killed
Allowing houses to be burned
Allowing the world around us to crumble
The Deceit Of America
America, the land of free. The very free we all wish to be.
I was told from a very young age that this was our path, it was our calling.
Jose can't you see?
That there's no equity
That the house of the weary
Is no longer free
I once had a dream
That we could all be a team
In a colorful land
Home to every brand.
there is something to be said about family.and love. and culture. and freedom.it is what you are born into through casualty
They want to help the minority, Why not start with the majority. We've got corrupt corporations,Taking over the whole nation. Monsanto is for sure a tout, Suing all the farmers without a doubt.
I am blinded by light
Flashing, flashing, flashing
The images blur together
Aggressively telling me
Buy MAC
Buy COACH
Call 1-800-GET-THIN
Blinking
Flashing
Blinking
Flashing
Rising and falling
History on repeat
Bombs and endless wars
We all must always compete
Fighting to the death
Living to the brink
Fathers holding guns
Mothers burying sons
A flag flies free
over tired backs and vagabonds.
The people hear shouts and screams
of their America being torn apart.
Prejudice and hopelessness are overflowing
America the Great,
At least in theory.
America the Great,
Why are we so dreary?
America the Great,
Unemployment, welfare.
America the Great,
No politician could truly care.
We the people,
We the great,
We the wonderful,
We the states,
Remember when you were young?
Falling
Spiraling
And never to see the end
Of the monotony
Sirens
Alarms
Ringing out lamentations
Of the ever-oppressed
What is great about america,
is not the onslaught of people who peacefully protest
and not the people who lost their lives for mistaken crimes,
not the assumption of actions for race
Dear America the great, what is our fate?
A land where we care more about the vape than the women getting raped.
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue
The Native Americans called this place home, but they were not free to continue on
They were not free to stay where they had been
I once believed in the American Dream. Now its dead, like Malcolm and the King. I have a dream. One day, freedom will ring.
What do I see in the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Fat minds grow restless, fed stories of the hardship and challenge of older days.
Pride blooms like a plague in the hearts of the prosperous.
In a land filled with strife,
if only we valued life.
The home of the free, where values stand,
if only we cared more for our land.
Our entertainment now is filled with lust,
When my father stepped off the plane twenty years ago and found his way to
The Bronx where his brothers were waiting for him,
It was to live every day plagued by stories of his
Why is one man raised above another?
Thinking he's better just because of a color
Why does one man think he can choose who belongs?
Thinks he can choose who stays or who gets pushed along
It’s not you… It’s me…
No, no, no-- It’s most certainly the other way around!
Listen, sweetheart… I love you
But you need to change, first.
God Bless America
Land that I love
The land of the free and the home of the brave
But is it really the land of the free?
I do love my country. I was born and raised in the state of California.
'Merica
Is the old man who stopped and turned
To snarl at my mothers beige skin
In the dairy aisle without shame
It is the voice in my head saying
I'll never be able to hold my girlfriends hand
Our world is full of trifles
People getting too caught up in battles
I believe in freedom of choice
I want everyone to be able to use their voice
America needs to stick to what they know
Hands over hearts, morning after morning
Some don’t bother speaking anymore
Their silence is louder than the words that flit around the classroom
Why pledge Allegiance to a country that has wronged so many?
Imagine a world so unlike this one
Where grimy hands were not free to cross lines,
And no one experienced the sinking jolt
Of panic caused by bad touches
Brought on by loud mouthed musketeers
America. Land of the free home of the brave... for a few.
America.
A country founded on "All Men Are Created Equal"... Not true.
America.
Oh Beautiful for the same-sex couples who get married without judgment
Spacious skies that contain no bombs to harm other countries
Waves of grain and fruited plains that feed all of the hungry
Hate.
Intense or passionate feelings of dislike.
Feelings that rip apart friends, families, nations alike.
Today, it is a feeling of honor among this nation.
America
Home of free and brave
Everyone 'loves' America
But why are we so divided?
If America is beautiful,
why do we pollute?
If America is great,
why do we hate?
Red white and blue
Land of the free
Land of the brave
Land of prejudice and violence
We love our country
We discriminate against our people
For the men who cried and died on 9-ll,
whose son was only seven,
The planes that crashed and burst into flames,
Oh how it was such a shame,
Freedom can be yours in the land of the free
This is true, but only if you listen to me
Don't open your mouth to speak
The best kind of thoughts are the ones that are bleak
Oh, the American dream?
We are America...
the land of the free, the home of the brave,
yet we stll have many crises pertaining to inequality, poverty, Geneaolgy, social class, economic wealth and generosity.
Long ago so the story goes
Lived our nation founders of old
They stood together and wrote their goals
On a dream of which they haven't seen uphold
A nation of freedom and prosperity
How far would someone have to push you
To make your soul leave your body
Only for you to live anew.
Everything you touch,
Everything you taste,
Jefferson was no man of equality
spitting lines about freedom
and individuality
while holding the chains
of my brothers and me
His legacy never lost
Farm these bodys, and harvest these men!
We are a nation of tax producing hens.
Free in this pen, the field hides our fence.
The illusion of choice makes us feel human.
Taxes
Religion
Freedom
Slavery
War
Poverty
Problems.
America was once great.
But now, we are only a shadow of our forefathers.
We fight over insignifcant problems
Blue sea, blue skyEagles, flying highA nation so greatI could not wait For its influence is so greatYou may askWhy I have no hateI will stand proud and sayBecause I live in the USA
Sure, we have the power to choose our own goverment,
Vote for our own leaders
We also have Freedom of Press and Freedom of Religion
We, most importantly, have The Freedom of Speech.
my father's eyes arered, white, and blue.third generation immigrant,he is proud of what he has done,of what this country's allowed him to become.
If freedom were a cape and bravery a mask,
This country we call Great, in its glory we would not bask.
For there is no hero beneath the suit, merely a guise,
America, the home of the free
Founding Fathers resisting a tyrannical power
Oh how we brought them to their knees
And now, here we are, at the end of our nation's hour
With the violence taking over the world
A burning banner lights the hopeless night
Set fire by those who turn backs and fight
Against the country which they helped create
The blessings, they did not appreciate
Born in 1999,
a Northwest city.
Three sisters and three brothers,
parents with no college degree
and one income.
But what do I know,
of the riots,
police brutality,
Red, white, blue-the country in which I exist
Never questioned or realizing that something is amiss..
Born to a culture that screams being patriotic since before I was a kid.
Red
Why do we continue to insist
On saying 'our flawless nation'
When that very statement
Couldn't be further from the truth?
You see the red hats
"Make America Great Again"
But when were we great?
When we stole souls from thier homelands?
No.
When we held millions of Japaneese Americans hostage in their so called homeland?
Aghast I throw my eyes to the stars and ask,
do they mean to lie to me, or is this why they shine?
But they can't answer, in their yellow twinkle,
over the rumble of how great we think we are, driven by personal gain.
When the president promises to make America great again,
Which America is he referring to?
Is it the one,
Built on the backs of immigrants
The one,
it's like a wall
and a wall is like a structure
because structures are made of walls
but only if we described our structure as something more as just walls
I live well
My parents feed me every night
My stomach is never empty
The latest toys fall into my lap
A stay at home mother for me to cry to
I had not realized
I learned the word animosity in 2016
Because the word is thrown around carelessly
Whether it be in the news or in discussion
This word is used to describe the world currently
This word is new to me
I remember you were conflicted, the choices in life you should've never had to make, options between Shakespeare and a gun. You chose the gun, because you never believe a choices had to be made Between receiving an education or becoming a statisti
A second class citizen or maybe a third,
To be first you must be rich, no matter how absurd.
You get points if your white, or have a nice sounding name,
For the Latoya's and A-Arons, you'll get naught but shame.
Sometimes we think that,
Others are spoiled, and we are victims.
It is proposed,
“This country is dying, failing, a broken system,”
“Was it ever great?” they echo,
Each election hastens shock and recoil,
America the Great
It’s something you shouldn’t hate,
We look to strive
And keep record of our archives
From the Roman times
America----
You call us a People United.
You proudly call yourself a 'Melting Pot'
Although that may be true, you fool yourself by the own lies you tell.
We are divided.
Divided by the color of our skin.
Dear America, You kidnap me from my home and family in my motherlandYou stuff me under your ships for months and set sail for a New WorldYou ruffle my feathers and force me into your fields You sell me as a slave for way less than my worth You be
Dear America,
What happened to the words you said?
“…all men were created equal.”
Oh, the lies you have fed.
All lives matter.
As we have 1.6 Million people on the steets braving nature as if we are in year 1.
As we have 4.9 percent of Americans unemployed, not counting those not even looking for jobs.
"Make America Great Again!" It's the slogan we all hear.
"Americans are full of hate!" from the mouths of people that live here.
Many years of suffering and depression. And all for what?
How can we say
we live in the land of the free
while the homes of the brave
are being taken away
How can we ignore
the illness and poverty
suffered so immensely
Turn over your hands, let me read the lines.
I'll feel the aches in those curves, read the letters between the creases in your skin.
The soles beneath your shoes smell of sun-baked earth.
In these Disunited States
We're always concerned with such petty things as
Left or right
Black or white
This or that
America the Great?
Really...how do we rate?
There are homeless and poor...
So we could do more
to aid and to feed
to help those in need.
There also are wars, hate, crime and pollution.
Love thy neighbor
Love thy brothers and sisters
Believer in Him or not
One cannot deny, Love thy neighbor
To love thy neighbor
To love thy brothers and sisters
One must open their hearts
"Make America Great Again"
The words spoken by our infamous leader
This is His America
With bombs and threats,
Insults and cat calls
Racism, sexism, ageism
Fascism and imperialism
I never ever claimed to be a lyrical genius or one who spit words from the top of my cranium that could make you so furious because the truth has the effect to cause major pain in sum.
Warm wind whistles low. Humidity increases quite slow. Rain begin to fall in the heat of day. All the children hide away. A mother reaches out her hand. Promises to protect the land. Promises to care for the children who live in said place. Promi
Warm wind whistles low. Humidity increases quite slow. Rain begin to fall in the heat of day. All the children hide away. A mother reaches out her hand. Promises to protect the land. Promises to care for the children who live in said place. Promi
France hates us.
The world laughs at us.
We are slobs.
We are free.
We are generous.
We are beautiful.
In America, we are free
To do what we wish
Thus, with joy we cry
And oh how we pray
That freedom has not died
For if she dies we are lost
I think you cannot claim every person on your soil
If you only want ones undefeated by their toil
Some of them collapsed under your burden
Some of them used to think they were important
I still feel the slap of disgrace in humanity and
I will still feel the grip of xenophobia
It feels like water up my nose when I can swim but
I Still Can’t Breathe
This non-lyrical, spiritual shit I listen to
Make me realize how much I’m missin you
These instrumentals might take down the institute
And make ladies like you, more than an ingenue
Can you see through the smog in the air
In which the sun’s bright light is dimming from space debris, but we do not care
Twilight's last gleaming, the only time the harsh pollution is hidden
Age 9, daydreaming.
What I Would Do If I Were President.
Diseae. Poverty Starvation.
Huddled masses, and nobody breathing free.
MLK believed the arc bends toward justice.
MLk was wrong.
America, the great, is what it claims to be, But the America I know is a giant catastrophe.
Bravery in the face of danger
Courage in a foreign land
Your selflessness in service
As strong and united you stand
For the old as with the young
Both loved ones and those unknown
In it's history,
America has played
Many different roles:
The Damsel
The Villain
And The Train
Waving flag; Burning flag
Freedom
Equality
Justice
For all
Let your voice be heard
Protest
Disobey
I believe in the education system that tells our youth how to do IT safely rather than not at all.
IT. Yes. IT. IT as in sex.
We've grown up
being told that we can become anything.
But the white lies turn into
the darkness that consumes you.
Because once your hopes get high enough,
they come crashing down and
Yes I can see
From the glow of my computer light
That I cannot be proud of
Our stars and stripes.
We stand on the shore and ignore
The helpless cries of our fellow man,
Soup with only one ingredient,
salad with only lettuce.
Women, gays, blacks,
we can speak only if they let us.
Indivisible under God,
yet my country is rooted by evil.
I Am American
I am American, home of the brave and free,
I am American, where dawns early light glints of the handgun cellphone, something in his pocket can't tell what it was BANG BANG BANG
I’m proud to be an American,
For surely we are blessed!
The Hand of God reaches lovingly out to caress
Our saints, our patriots, our sons we’ve laid to rest.
I’m proud to be an American—
Though She may think she is sweet and kind,
There is a mean monster behind.
This monster is ruthless
And selfless.
This monster I speak of
America
The Country that rose from oppression
Filled with people with their own mission
We strive for success whatever the stakes
Pushing ourselves to achieve it no matter what it takes
Land of the free and home of the brave,
A place with endless opportunities that outsiders crave,
A nation where the flag of red, white, and blue, constantly wave,
This is America.
An outcast and the people’s man
Is nothing but a lewd artifice of a leader
His white hot rhetoric sears into America’s already scarred skin
She weeps for her children
When you think of America,
You might think the land of the free.
The place where a man comes,
To give a better life for his family.
A people so isolated in a culture of assimilation,
A nation so apathetic to all of creation.
When the eyes of the opressed weep beneath their boots,
Crushed beneath a system of fascist roots.
The Star – Spangled BannerA tune of greatnessThough the tune is sweetAnd the message is greatBut the mission is not achieved. The Star – Spangled BannerHas not yet fought with unemploymentOther citizens lack chance for higher educationWith poor ec
In a world full of possibility, all I see is hate.
In a land of freedom, so many feel oppressed,
left to sit like cattle while men with money in their pockets participate in the great debate.
Zero to thirteen to fifty
Farm to factory to firm
From dreams 'till fate
From duty 'till freedom
In justice
In unity
Unwavering that waving
Unstifling that soul
When I was seventeen, I had a friend
With sparkling eyes and a contagious smile
She had a fire for life and goals to achieve
Two men ripped away her aspirations
I am proud of America.
I am proud to live in a land of rights for all.
I am proud to follow in the footsteps of those who came before.
I walk into the coffee shop like I usually do
As I ask for the usual tea and croissant
I see in the corner the conflict of red and blue.
Us, a fragment of Earth under siege
And does he not hear our plea.
Thrusting towards the new, dark age
Our beautiful country, now Satan's stage.
Any effort to heal the wounds of our soldiers
Women standing in the crowded downtown,
Hold home-made signs in their hands.
Many of them read,
"Keep your laws off my body".
I am one of these women who stand,
Although my hands are empty.
We’ve associated an answer with this question for decades
Waves of newspapers address it
Dissect it
Bless us, we free people, for we understand our place
Make America great again?
Wait give me a second
Let's go back way back when
We killed the natives
Is there really anything that can save us?
When we hide behind guns
From people we label as savages
I am going to be blunt
Police are murdering black kids
Poor considered less than the 5%
Politicians are lying
President won't say a word about black boys dying
They passing anti-gay laws
America is free
Free of equal rights that women have
but still cant decide what happens to our bodies
Freedom to vote
but get judged for who you did
Free to be the mixing pot
In the land of the free we enslave each other
We're suppose to love, but instead we betray our own sister and brother
We have the chance to overcome, but we hold ourselves back
Oh, can you see?
The protestors in the early light
So proudly we march
To regain our stolen rights
Rainbow stripes and loud cries
Break the silence of the day
Throughout the world we marched
America the great
America the great
what happened to your grace?
Was it ever there?
Or just one of the many illusions you create?
America the Great,
The land of the free,
This is my home
And you won’t take it from me.
We split from Britain
In a bloody war, where
Brothers fought brothers, and
America, you began on a solid foundation.
You were great. You were beautiful.
You flourished. You grew.
People came from all over to marvel at you.
Do you know why you were so great?
A Place of white supremacy
Lies a little white girl like me
There is no hate when I pick a mate
But only if I decline the straight
I pick and choose which side I fight on
Set fire to the right tree, the whole forest will burn
Think. Not of a grim reality, but of the galvanizing truth
The one who ignites the right branch hopes to illuminate the right tree, the whole forest will burn
America? Known as a nation reborn,
Through war and tragedy we still uplift our hopes.
We take each other by the hand urging them to hold on,
There are the men that choose to face each other causing hate and struggle.
We the people
In order to form a more perfect Union:
Establish a system of injustice-
a system of slavery that will never be outlawed
Trump says, "Make America great again," but when was America ever great?
Was America great when Europeans crossed the Atlantic Ocean and took the Natives' land and proclaimed it as theirs?
In a world where nothing stays the same
Either for better or worse
America could either lead to fame
Or it can lead you to a hurse
Aren't they both the same?
They seem to be a curse
America, land of the free, home of the brave
America, scars still fresh, from the war bestowed upon you
America, you are suffering, you are hurting
America, ruled by the corrupt, ruled not by the people
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." -Statue of Liberty. New York. Independence Day, 1776.
Walls, rules.
All raised to keep out a refugee, an immigrant.
Obstacles, hoops.
Everyone talks about how blue the sky was that morning,They talk about the first responders who were quick to help the hurt,About the people who traveled to the golden gates that day About their family members and their friends and all effected,Ab
Even a garden is perfect from far away,
but look close for problems clear as day.
The weeds and roots twist and wind,
despite the farmers daily grind.
Without change of habbits or location,
America the Great? More like America's a fraud,
Stealing from the poor, trying to keep up their facade,
Polishing their shoes with the sweat of hard workers,
Blaming us for their troubles when they're the real shirkers,
I won’t turn on the news when I watch TV
Because I can’t handle the things I know I will see
Instead I watch comedies and try to push them from my mind
America is not free, not until everyone has the same rights as you and me.
We? Us? Them?
Who am I to say we are the same. They fight to walk down the streets.
I fight just to marry the man of my dreams.
America, spit-shined shoes and starry-eyed saints,
heart beating under the trumpets
you are an ingenue, a stock image of sensibilities.
America, your shadow looms over me.
Our national anthem proudly sings,“O’er the land of the free,”
But as we look deeper to the colors of our flag,
It was never always red, white, and blue.
Time machines were supposed to be cool
Not for prejudice to take the rule.
Have we reached the end?
Can we make amends?
Trump this. Trump that.
Take off that hat.
We know what your hiding.
America, you of which I do dream
Every wonderful road, or each steel beam
The home of the brave, the land of the free
Why does your gaze never pass over me
forgotten, alone, almost derelict.
Imagine free-falling from the mountainside to the earth.
Watch the trees die and woods stand still in mourning.
Can you feel that,
the tell-tale heart pitter-pattering with adrenaline?
Or is it nerves,
Pledge your life to endless pride
We only want total control
Pray for our nation under our God
As we commit genocide
-
Submit to the conditional freedom
Or become our hated scapegoat
My baby-blue
Buttoned up Jersey.
Neck burnt with hard
Work, in the sun my ball cap
Has its most useful duty.
The Rawlings glove is not
Forgotten, like the tickets that were
America the beautiful, oh land so proud and vast
It saddens me to see you so, both now and in the past
Degraded of the liberty so many young men died for
I wish to see you learn again of something more to fight for
The greatest thing
About this place
Is the lack of conformity.
I am allowed to speak my mind,
However it won't change the hands of time.
239 years in a downward spiral,
Ivy is born in the Bronx
At 6:04 A.M.
She enters the world wailing,
Falling flat against grimy bathtub in her grandfather’s basement.
There is a light on a hill,
Gleaming in the distance,
Do not follow their example.
Do not visit their fire.
Atop the hill sits a house on fire,
Divided and divided again,
When they questioned our religion,
America stood.
When they threatened our freedom,
America stood.
When they fought us and tried to take us down,
America stood.
I am what you call a latina
Just another mexican niña
I am what you call a pansexual
Once again another ignored label
America the Great
Each day you wake up
and each day the pledge is heard
some stand up and put their hand on their hearts
but others stay seated
For is it really true?
One nation under god with liberty and ¨Justice¨ for all
A stranger in the eyes of a child damned to live in a country of wickedness,
How ironic the place of freedom is the most bound place on earth.
A solid chained weight on our ankles corroded in sinfulness,
oh, give me a home <br>where the buffalo roam <br>where the deer and the antelope play <br>where seldom may heard a discouraging word <br>and the skies are not cloudy all day <br><br>america, land of true libert
Why
Why should I shut my mouth with subjects on moral and humane rights because
"I'm...too...young..."
"I...wouldn't...understand..."
You may be right
I don't understand
How can,
how can so much hate
come from within
a land known as great?
there is no end to this fight for humanity
to give in is to give away
your sanity.
Day in and day out, the tension rises,
What does our red, white and blue really mean?
Can we avoid this terrible crisis,
Or will our fear prevent the twilight gleam?
I recall when we weren’t so divided,
Friendships formed, never severing,
Just kidding, we were at war the whole time and missed everything.
You want me to pledge allegiance to the flag..A flag what’s patriotism should have disguised to meThat it was bred to
Home of the Brave?
More like home of the slave.
Slave to social media.
Slave to materials.
Slave to a glued to the wall redia.
When will we go back to where things were physical
America is the land of the free,
But sometimes, we are not as free as we think.
Our votes don't matter;
The electoral college ensures that.
Our women's bodies are subject to men's whims,
I was made in America.
My grandfather is a veteran.
My father black.
My mother white.
I am from a bloodline of freedom fighters.
I was packaged,
This country
is my home
but what it stands for
I don't always agree with
I don't like what happened
to Mike Brown's case
or how they handled
anyone who hates that race
I want to love you America,
but how can I when our greatest mistake as a nation
is preaching to our youth that what is in our textbooks
can never happen again
we preach intelligence
America, aren't you supposed to be free?
A land free of racism, injustice, and just letting me be me?
Every day we turn on the news,
A man is dead, his wife and unborn baby too.
The land I fly for
is not the land I should fly for.
The land I fly for honors my stripes and stars
but not each other.
The land I fly for
only knows inequality.
America pledged a sugar coated liberty
To sweeten such bitter remorse.
Yet her heart burned by trepidity
When she hid her wounds with words.
She sang a twisted song,
Her lyrics laced with dread
Oh say can you see?
By the dawn’s early light
The big wall towering
Over us all upright
Whose broad bricks
And bright clay
Oh, say, can you see
What you believe, you may achieve
By the dawn's early light
Every morning, an opportunity
What so proudly we hailed
Together, a prideful nation
At the twilights last gleaming?
How can we be The land of the free And the home of the brave, When we are nothing more than a knave, an enclave, Digging our own grave? You can hear their cries, The millions of sobs very loud and clear, Those of a mother, mourning the death of
Do I think America is great of course
But do I think it could be better definitely
There is so much that can be done in order to make America different
Different from what all the other countries could ever be
I pledge allegiance to the flag,
stitched together only to be sectioned,
ripped apart,
burnt at the stake
for minority sake
and for the love
of the Divided States of America
they march
America is not great and the American Dream is fake.
We are still fighting battles that should have been won over 100 years ago.
Racism and slavery...it seems we have just given up
How about our education it's really bad
Today in the world,
People are obsessed with diamonds and gold.
Children forced to sit still,
Forced to bend to their parents will.
America the beautiful,
built on the blood,
sweat,
and tears
of those who did not survive
to see the country they helped build,
sweeping some coast to coast, sea to shining sea.
America the great
but is it really?
Nowadays it seems all I hear is hate
The new talk is about wanting to escape
run away to a different country
America oh, America.
A nation home to many.
America oh, America.
The foundations of your values have been revered by many.
Liberty is your creed, Freedom is what you bleed, yet many still feel agony.
Come one come all come see,
Don’t shy from the light!
Though I know it’s no longer gleaming,
You might not see a star!
But at least they stopped putting up a fight!
It’s just begging to be watch’d!
Oh say can’t you see,
The home and land of the free…
The free...
Each day one more decree,
enforced over me.
I place my hand on my heart and my arm on my back
and I begin to sing then I begin to reflect
on all the people who gave their lives so I could live
So I could come to this event where all these people
Constantly America has shown its Strength
Today however people have begun to lose faith
The flag used to show hope for all
Now the flag only waves on the riches call
Here we stand together as they say
Everyone preaches the great Red, White, and Blue.
We've been raised to.
But why do we praise Red, White, and Blue?
Why is it something we so mindlessly do?
Hands over our hearts, we pledge to one nation,
America now
Sees mental illness
As something taboo to talk about
Outside of a hospital,
As something to suppress so long as I get that ‘A’,
As something not legitimate next to a broken leg,
The heterosexual white men of our country are blinded with their star-spangled eyes,
As the rest of us become motivated and brave.
Yes, this may be the “land of the free”,
What we were then is not what we are now
For changes were made, that were good and bad.
What I don’t understand is exactly how
It’s time for change.
In America,
Women getting told
They shouldn’t have worn that.
In America,
Men getting told
we are
america the brave
do you see us?
we are here
feet pressed firmly into american soil
and we will not back down
these are my sisters and my brothers
Every morning at the beginning of class
We all rise and stand as a mass
Pledging to our country's flag
But for many, it can become such a drag
To realize that we won't pledge any more
This is a shape poem; start at the very top and read from left to right. For simplicity's sake, I uploaded the poem as an image.
America, you lied to me
I came here to grab all the opportunities
It was a long wait, in that large embassy
I held on my mother’s hand as we flew across the sea
A walk through Washington D.C. would be incomplete
Without a stop at a trickling fountain -
The object of a thousand dreams
And pennies flicked up high,
Like the work of our forefathers
We the people.
United we stand!
Oh,
That's right..
United we stand,
Conditionally.
United we stand,
If you are heterosexual
If you are christian
America
Have we got what we sought out—
Have we deafened our ears—
Have we defended with honor—
Have we lasted the years?
Learned to love and learned to hate,
“...America, America,
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!”
How do we sing of a country so great
The excitement grows like a great inhale
Watching the glass ceiling’s break come to bear
Friends around me ensuring sense will prevail
Yet nothing comes to stop the hate in the air
America, The country of genocide, suicide, homicide
America, The country of proslavery, bravery, not savoury
America, The country of glory, history, territory
America, Oh, America, why did you fall from grace?
America wasn't great?
Im sorry, didn't know.
We aren't truly free?
Is that an actual fact?
I didn't even know.
I Couldnt see.
Cause I knew from the start,
America wasn't made for me.
Change causes sunken ships.
See Starbucks, their cup lost sips.
An attack on America,
That absent-Christmas glory;
But even worse, are these fingerprints-
Don’t care for such stories.
You seemed to be lost, can you tell me who you are?Your face is familiar, maybe I've seen you without all the scars.That tattoo on your neck, what does it say? “All lives matter” yeah maybe one day.You're a man I can see, can you tell me how…You w
America; America the great | The New World stands with open gates | Open arms to the shambled freights | Heavy laden with the poor and the desperate | Th
I’m opening a restaurant
On the corner of Liberty Street
And Broadway.
New York’s Broadway makes billions, but
I got a small loan of a million dollars
Breathe.
When you take a breath, what do you feel?
Do you feel alive or ready to help this nation thrive even more?
Now think.
To be strong,
To be powerful.
To be young,
And to be mighty.
Land of the free,
Home of the brave.
America is beautiful,
Land of the free
Home of the brave
Cruel individuals litter the streets
With their lies and sneers
When will people be genuine again?
America is filled with cheaters and liars
In America we are free
That's why the government should let us be
In an exchange for freedom, people had to die
So people may show their pride because it's surely nothing to hide
The water is too murky
The water is too gray.
The water is too polluted.
To see the fish at bay.
For the fisherman had never thought
That his fish would have never been caught
Remember, Remember how America was great although there was terror
Remember the Roosevelts and Honest Abe, what they contributed and oh, how they were aware
Question one.
How did Nazi Germany rise to power?
A) Religion
B) Scapegoating
C) Nationalism
D) All of the above.
Within the winter months,
Ice and snow cover the ground
But with this specific winter
Tears emerge all around
Discontent turns to ice
In hard-working men and women
Cement walls are discussed
This country is united but not under God,
you're blind if you think this country isnt flawed.
We have troops dying left and right, people dont say a word,
People dont see the real picture, the real picture is blurred.
What I want to know is
Why there's riots in the streets
Why people can't afford to eat
Why my black friends are scared
And hoping that their lives can be spared
People are a mess
America the great
where we care more about a kid’s GPA more than their mental health.
where we are driven by money and not dreams.
where the people are lied to, and believe every word.
Fade up lights 2 and 3!
We want to have a general wash on the poverty,
So the audience can see but not truly see the details of
The decaying clothes and caved in stomachs and
Should I be afraid to walk outside because underneath my clothes is a black man inside? Who is the child underneath the white sheets being gun down while playing with his toy in the streets? A mother is crying, down on her knees, for her child'
These words that were written so long ago
They cease to shine. They cease to grow.
They mock me now, day in and day out.
For tis nothing but a puppet show,
I wonder why we ignore the past
Work 9-5 every day
But these Bills I cannot pay
I try to go to school
But my passion I have to overlook
Cause it costs $500 just for the fricken textbook
Our jobs are being moved
All under trade deals
Religious freedom you ask?
You must've heard it from the settlers.
Who dares question my right to believe?
We must've fought for our freedom not yours.
I am a prouduct of immigrants.
O say can you see
Just how far we’ve come.
The injustice in our country
Is a battle far from won.
People line the streets
Little Angel
This little angel
We are putting our faith in you.
We hope that you will do well,
I did a research paper my senior, an internal assessment - an IA.
I did it on a topic that hit close to my roots:
Neoslavery.
Recently
I am not proud to be an American
I do not get the songs
I do not want to pledge
I do not want to identify
There is hate
There is discrimination
There is division
She is beauty
She is dreams
She holds misogyny
Hoping for a better life it seems
She talks to everyone
Discusses their ideas and desires
The only offspring with a say is the son
America the great land of the free
Land of acceptance and diversity
America, land made for you and me
Yes, land of the free… until recently
America--
The land of the hope
The land of the free
The land of opportunities
That’s what they said to me.
A place of glory,
Yes, America is a great place to live
America is like the Hollywood of the world that everybody wants to visit
People wearing the American Flag Print Loud and proud
America is a place of dreams and wonders
Build a wall! Our brothers and sisters of the South have thrived
Under the shadow of oppression, located
In the "land of opportunity," now fear for their future as they are
These days children are crying
Old people are dying
The privileged are whining
"Why can't everyone have MediCare!"
"That's so not fair!"
America The Great
Or Shall i Say america The Hate
We're The Image Of The Land For Heavens Sake
And We keep Increasing Our Murder Rate
Killed By An Officers , A Black Man's Fate
America made me,
half believing in my dreams
half knowing I would have to fight for my life
battling the words meant to kill me,
giants spitting words
America is a beautiful hypocrite.
It offers greatness,
but only for the ones that are worthy.
The mothers
who break their backs and fend for their children,
only to find their hands come up empty;
America, oh America
how great you still are
America, oh America
we have come so far
America, oh America
what is going on here
America, oh America
we are being overrun by fear
America, oh America
how great you still are
America, oh America
we have come so far
America, oh America
what is going on here
America, oh America
we are being overrun by fear
No jobs , No will What can be done
More school less money it’s all gone
This great country is dieing ,oh and all for what
They say be patient, they say its better
America
Where they say to be yourself
But "yourself" should be beautiful
So you make Yourself
Only you know you will never compete
With the image on the screen
Or the perfect aesthetic squares
God Bless America!
Where the grand homes spit on the peasent who make the ground they walk on
God Bless America!
Where black infestation is eliminated by the wonderful cops who are suppose to be protection
America started out with slavery.
But, we took a step of bravery.
The pain the suffering and agony .
When the slaves needed it the most
America took a vote
America, not so great.
But who else is to blame for our doomed fate?
A nation divided, far from united
What's more frightening, when people are openly racist or they hide it?
"America the great" huh?
How about America the fake?
How about this joke that we take for the media, What about the corruption of our images?America the land of materialism, the bought, the sold,
This country
where I was born and raised,
where my seeds were sown,
was never one I used to be
ashamed of.
The red, white, and blue
were the colors of my blood,
and the spirit in my chest.
For the land of the free, there sure is a lot of bondage and incarceration imbalance.
You can only go to jail if you're not a straight, conservative, wealthy, white male.
People ask me what to me makes America. If you ask 1,000 people you will get 1,000 answers, some good some bad, so let me just lay down a few facts.
America the great?
Some say so, others say no.
While life has improved for some
Many have had their lives worsened
Less are in college
And we’re supposed to be an educated country?
We say the land of the free
And yet we have a scandal about our President’s
Pee.
This doesn’t seem to be very fair to
Me.
a perfect world
full of love
full of life
all above
there is no violence
there is no pain
it makes no sense
does it?
reverse
turn it upside down
that is how we live
America flies, but we need to soar.
We strive for higher, but pull ourselves down.
We look to the left; we look to the right,
When the answer is meet in the middle.
america.
we all preach it as the land of the free
the home of the brave.
america.
the new president says we need to make it
great again.
what made it not as great?
Tell me something
Am I too much for you
Too loud for you
Too little for you
I have realized in just a short 17 years
We are not who we think we are
Faces facing forward,
Focus Fixated on the Flag.
God Bless America,
Land of the Free and those Good-for-Nothing Mexican Scumbags.
Hand over Heart,
Hand over Ears,
over Eyes,
Said he would make it great again
Too bad it was just pretend
Where once they were welcomed, they now flee
Tyranny, fascism, and maximum authority
Could thou have a change of heart?
Make us one to be admired
This is the truth:
Other countries look at us and don't understand
Why we haven't yet learned to love.
We are not treated equally.
We do not understand our own people.
We are raised to hate,
Life
Taken from the sons in Afghanistan,
the brothers in Vietnam,
the fathers in the Pacific
Liberty
Demolished by Big Brother
America the great? Land of the free? What does America mean to me?
Who is America and who are its people?
An American is the weight of more than 19 trillion dollars of debt.
We live in a culture of vultures
We don’t even have time to breathe
We are only supposed to succeed and conceive
Because what else are we supposed to believe?
Just imagine the size of who we are
From all of the stripes to every single last star.
People don't realize how far America has actually come.
But people need to start realizing all of the work that needs to be done.
What does it mean—to have pride?
Does it mean flying our flag high,
Or red, white, and blue fireworks,
On the fourth of July?
What does it mean—to be patriotic?
Welcome to America
All are free in this land
But if you are black
Equal rights you cannot demand.
Welcome to America
All are free in this land
But if you are Muslim
Oh America the beautiful land that was here long before us was stolen, and the treachery of our foundation was made on the bones of the deceased.
Greetings America
You're a great sport
I supposed you're egotistic and somewhat rather strange
I like that you're diverse although you're not all there at a time
I hate the crimes that made you great
Independance won
War unending
Bombs burst in one another
Friendly fire, undying
Unfriendly voices, trying
Flag waving o'er us
My country and yours
A foreign flag on the horizon
Oh America the
Great?
The skies
forsaken
by hatred's
racial waves.
Where is God
to shed his grace
on Thee?
The streets are
filled with
regressing change
Roaring through the Purple Mountains Majesty
Comes a thunder deeper than any ocean
And from across the golden fields and valleys
Comes a great people in motion
Oh crown thy good in brotherhood
and sisterhood.
Crown the days the weeks the months
we spend with our backs bent
over the stoves and our hips
holding our children.
Crown us Queens,
America the beautiful,
We believe you are the beautiful alright.
Where your stars and stripes should resemble the different American people
Yet we don’t even consider those intricate patterns unless they’re white.
All you see on the news lately is stuff about how we’re all gonna die.
What’s the point? Why try?
Because it seems that anything we do now won’t matter. It’s too late.
As humans, color is a big part of the world as we know it. Different colors mean different things and represent different things and look like different things.
She's soft, gentle within.
Yet firm, and strong out.
She's patient, loving, and understanding.
She's the provider of another ethnic, another religious group, another culture, and me.
She's wrinkled.
My grandmother saw America
not as a land of opportunity,
but as a last resort.
Taking off only when there was nothing left
Leaving because a twenty-six-year-old with four children
cannot provide on a dime.
The land of the free,
The home of the brave,
Building up walls
That will only decay
Liberty and Justice,
For a select few
How is it, the country we live and accept the very fundamentals frowned upon 250 years ago
These cardinal virtues is what we are established on
How is it, a baby in this day and age never see the abhorrent perks of this world
Back in Ninety-Seven, back when I was born
America was far different; less hate and scorn
Back when schools taught old fashioned, and parents had respect;
Die for your country
it's your duty kid
no?
communist.
are you not ready to die
are you not willing to kill
it's the american way
cut your hair before you go
The Flag Burns
It burns as we set it to flame
not with a match
but with our votes
with our rigged elections
with our money
with our blank mind
knowing we are sedated
August 3rd, 1492.
Christopher Colombus set sail in search of something Great.
He did.
1492.
Same Year,
Christopher Colombus found Native Americans and named them
"Indians"
Does the banner still wave?
Over the land of the free?
Over the home of the brave?
It's waving for me, tattered as may be.
The sun is in the sky but I find myself asking why.
Why is America beautiful?
Why is America great?
Does it need to be great again or was it ever?
We call ourselves the land of the free, the home of the brave
Land of the free and the home of the brave?
More like land of the thieves and home of the slaves!
Taxation steals money all over the nation.
We're working for the government on this corporate plantation.
I must admit I’m nervous.
Nervous to stand in front of those I know well and those only vaguely.
Nervous to proclaim the things which have caused turmoil within me.
Oh America, I love to call you mine.
If I had the courage I would fight for this land.
I feel useless compared to those who give everything for this land.
For this land, I shall become the best person I can be.
I see the people around me, living their daily lives, not caring. The most outspoken ones hushed in fear that their actions will be deemed too daring but the truth dared to be revealed.
in my america, i’ve found that
there’s a darkness in it.
it’s grown darker these past few months;
it’s breaking apart at the seams
That great flag flys high above us, it says freedom for all
Freedom for all has some terms and conditions though
Must be of a light or fair skin tone
Must be of a christian denomination
Must be a man
The moment we are born we are told who we are
To our mothers, to our fathers it's a path we'll never stray afar.
America the beautiful, America the strong
She's suicidal,
Finally done,
Looking up to their idols,
Chest feels like a ton,
Slowly losing vitals,
It's no longer fun,
The endless cycle.
She's not the only one,
Our flag is a banner, held high to the light.
For all men are one, whether black or white.
From persecution we came, to judgment we go.
Have people forgotten the song, is it not so?
United as one
Divided as one
What we so proudly hailed became seperated by indviduals
We've come together as one before, to give us proof through the night,
That are flag was still there when we were all one,
America is burning.
It’s slow.
Slow like when you ask,
“Sir,
I’m real sorry,
But could you please put out your
Cigarette?”
You know that moment I’m talking about.
It's more than a tweet
More than 37 likes on instagram
showing me your
#bodypostivity
#heforshe
scrolling through the void
empty scream
issues trending on buzzfeed
“Land of the free*”
As if.
As if women do not scream for equality
As if black people are not afraid
As if trans kids are not shunned
And the gay flag tucked away
What if America really could be Great
What if America wasn't all Hate
What if America didn't Discriminate
We're gonna make America Great again?
America the land of free
Freedom is what promised
A melting pot of people
Yet we are setting limits on who is welcome
Based of religion
We let are fear control
Not so welcoming any more
Jazmine, I hope you remember to open this time capsule
To read this poem, and tell me if our country is still a haggle
To live in because of its unfair system
The country where you get dirty looks for being a victim.
We live in a world where football is important
Where balls getting deflated get a fifteen-minute news segmentAnd military personnel getting shot by Al-Qaeda or ISIS get five
“When freemen shall stand” is a day
Far away, a day strived for but
Missed, distant from us, fleeting.
Freedom is not a tangible thing:
It cannot be touched, nor held, nor
In school we were taught
That America is Freedom
And justice is for all.
We learned the First Amendment
The founding fathers listed
The American Dream
By Ryan G. and Joseph G.
The nation I reside in holds a dream
To live a life of wealth and to prosper
Black In America.
i felt it for the first time.
how Ironic.
I was always Black In America.
Your patriotic cries pierce my ears,
loud and resounding. But I am deaf.
Everyone gets a piece of the pie; liberty, justice,
but I am left with scraps- burnt pie crust and expired fruit filling.
I stood next to the Grand Canyon and
I tossed my troubles in--
what had once been large to me was now a grain of sand.
I stood next to our presidents in monumental form
and I wondered their opinion
Why do they hate us?
They sit upon their skyscrapers
With eyes malicious and green with lust.
They feast like kings and hiss like serpents,
November 9th, 2016 and my eyes restrain tears
I feel the wrath of hundreds of eyes locking onto mine as I walk down the hallways of my high school
Built upon bloodshed and mass genocide
maybe the color of my skin did dictate innocent lives
We probably did take it all away
The culture, the land, the native beauty
The Election.
My biggest fear.
I never thought my life would come to this,
Sent into this spiraling abyss,
With family and friends,
Neighbors and lovers,
Torn apart by the threat of others.
Hush, hush, my child,
Don't wail so loud;
This is the way things are supposed to be.
He is the bad guy,
She is a gossip,
Don't pick fights with the villains of history.
Who am I?
Who are you?
What are we?
I love you
and you love me
but we are both trapped in our imminent dreams.
As different as we are
our dreams are one in the same.
There is something to be said
About the color
Orange.
He is our president now, and
As realization sets in, we begin to
Dread.
But dread will get us nowhere, and
Seventeen years of life experience and I'm still not qualified for the job, because everyone thinks I'm either too young or too dumb. Pressured by society to look thin and tan, but we can hardly face each other man to man.
This year
The most distasteful year
With each passing day
It felt as if nothing would rise
I had marred skin
from my own knife
I distrusted my family
They didn't know what was right
Left or Right.
Up or Down.
There is no middle ground.
Feminism or Misogyny.
Racism or Tolerance.
There is no middle ground.
Can you see fire in an empty cave?
For all its dwellers now swarm
My home, gun-ho towards
All who have a voice.
At least they did...
I can see a mirror in the past,
My Responsibility to America is to abide by her laws.
My Responsibility to America is to take care of her elders.
My Responsibility to America is to choose her leaders.
A guest here –
this isn’t my school
these aren’t my students
and “I would let you work in groups but your teacher said not to.”
Your first day at a new schoolThe first time I turned around in class to ask you a questionThe first time I gave you a ride to soccer practiceThe first time we went skiing in Colorado together
poured over like a liquid fountain, rain
these words are constant but vanishes weak
for it goes through the ears; the mind never taints
as heard but never listened, conscious faint
She asks me, Quieres café?
And I respond you are too sweet.
Too sweet to the point that I don’t have to take a sip from this Colombian coffee
Because you helped me rise when I fell deep and saw nothing but fake images.
You have died
Not in the literal sense
But in my heart
You have perished
You did not take a gun to your head
Or swallow a handful of pills
To choose to end your life
I am from two worlds
I am from one world overflowing with rich culture
A world with spices that can inflame one’s taste buds and sense of desire
Pursuit of happiness, liberty, and life, tell yourself that it is how it is
But where’s happiness and liberty when there’s no life to begin with?
Don’t make no sense
Ever since 2008, Obama has been on the debate
I look up and I see the red and blue flashes.
I dream that the country I live in will love me
Like I have loved it.
I am grateful
But how has my country,which I left everything behind for been grateful back
By fitting me into a group, calling me a rapist
America the Beautiful, America the Brave
What has gotten into us to make us so depraved?
From the Industrial Revolution to the Revolution of Fear,
Did anyone tell you several thousands are killed per year?
If you are intimidated by someone else's skin color
STEP DOWN
If you believe that your life is somehow more valuable than those that don’t look like you
They walk and talk like they really know mebut I'm not just some random bodyI don't need them to dictate what I can and cannot do
I think it's officially my lifeI hear original narratives and think of all the people going through strifeIt's plaguing their lives and here I am writing about my #FirstWorldProblems
Segregation, to divide based on class, race, or religion
Freedom
Why have you betrayed me?
I am a black child
My race is your legacy
I am your first born son
So why must I ask you
Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz
The picket-fathers of modern psychoanalysis
And medicine
Gnashing our flaws away in gory applause
Guns, politics, and gays
Just the subjects that keep USA minds astray
Wars, deaths, and global warming
Is someone up above trying to give us a warning?
Here is a villanelle structured poem in iambic pentameter that offers a word of advice to the BLM movement...
You fight with me
You fight for our land
You fight with we
You fight to stand
Your fight has come
Your fight must be won
You fought for me
You fought for our land
America I used to feel your heart beat.
I don’t feel it anymore.
Has it been taken by the demons that now rule you?
Where has your heart gone?
Was it taken by the corrupt politicians?
Raise the flag up from half mast.But be prepared to lower it, this peace won't last.The flag may be hih for only one day morebefore we bring it down, our hearts so sore.
We all get offeneded
This is due to wounds that were never fully mended
There is no such place on Earth where something cannot hurt us
So why do we continue to fuss
My heart longs for those who are hurt
Autism is a mystery
Our society does only what it can unconditionally
Our society, America is just as autistic as I am
America did'nt realize the purpose of Vietnam
Dear America,Freedom sucksYour idea of "Freedom"Has families out on the streetsStuck behind the bars of DebtYour idea of "Freedom"Has children within the confines
“I fought in Vietnam.
Watched my men lay down their guns.
Watched the life of my old buddy, Red, drain from his eyes.
I heard the cries of a widowed wife,
as I told her, her husband died.
We the People,who had a dream,and never told a lie.We who fought for what was right and waved our flag up high.Jolted from the embers of a trailblazer's fire and shot from the barrel of a musket.Shackled and chained and segregated we who rose abov
Before my window I now stand.
I see the trees and grass and land,
That for so many of years have stood,
Attesting loudly to the good.
I see before me as I gaze,
The people free to go their ways,
Your teeth will always be there,
even when you're not smiling.
When the tears break and fall down your face,
sitting on the front porch swing,
It all started with thirteen little colonies
And a group of men who were known commonly
As the Founding Fathers of this great nation.
Franklin and Hamilton,
Madison and Jefferson,
It's not something that you can touch.
It's not somehting that you can see.
It's something that you can buy.
It's soemthing that you can be.
Other people have it.
Other people but not me.
Our beginings questionable
The debate heated and rash
We are Americans, the undivided
Freedom courses through a body of steel
Bravado comprises our souls
Compassion defines our hearts
America! Amercia!
Land of the free
Home of the brave and equality
Oh how I want to believe.
America! Amercia!
Home of the brave!
I'll march for your freedom
into my grave, and
Oh Say Can You SeeThe faces of manyWho have servedBy The Dawn's Early LightTo the depths of the nightThe ones that continue to work What So Proudly We HailHard-won freedom’s taleAnd those who suffered that griefAt The Twilight’s Last GleamingWith
I AM part of a generation, the result of carelessness
I WONDER if the damage can be undone; if we can find our heritage
I HEAR tales of a time of change; times long gone
America's Garden
Here in America diversity is key,
Seen on this soil are seeds from overseas,
Sailing on water or flying in air,
The common goal of freedom brings those seeds there,
When America has fallen one day,
When we are at out lowest
I hope and pray a hero emerges
To take it on with courage.
I hope someone who cares a lot
Unties our broken, twisted knot
When a nation is divided
It cannot last.
Division brews hatred
And political parties destruction.
I stand here as a citizen
My hands are up
My heart is shot
Human Rights
These are rights that are endowed to every human, rights that make us all equals.
I cannot live without human rights, taking away these rights takes away my humanity.
I am America, and I am the greatest country on Earth
I take pride in my journey, destined for power since birth
Like a mosaic, I am made of many stones and pieces
Together as one, the American spirit never ceases
I'm scared
Scared of what's to come
Scared of what has happened
Scared of what is happening
Scared of what could happen
Oranges.It doesn't rhymeWith any wordOr phraseOr contractionIn the entire english dictionary.But I can still write it down,Stick it in a poemOr a songOr a billboard off 75If I wanted to,I could spend ten versesProfessing my love of citrus fruitsOr
Buy the ammo You'll get a discount Courtesy of the NRA You know, the people who sit on leather Wear silk And sip the finest wine Courtesy of the assholes Who lack a moral compass And shoot to kill.
America!
America!
Our flag is flying high
in parades
held over graves
of those
who have died.
Go ahead, groan.
roll your eyes, chuckle, snicker, do whatever you like.
It's that girl. Me.
You know exactly who I am.
The black girl living in a predominantly white area.
There was a month where I smelled like cigarettes. You were the month that I tasted like misplaced jokes, who's punch-line snaked around my jaw;
The fluorescents blink almost as fast as you when you're uncomfortable,
And of course we don't know what we did wrong,
but the wax on the floors might.
I pledge Allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America.
This first line always makes me queasy.
It doesn't sound
Democracy?
An illusion
Freedom?
A delusion
How are we supposed to feel
with Isis's intrusion?
We're stuck in bad habit
while they're organizing their cabinet.
Einstein may have once said"Everyone's a genius.But if you judge a fish byIt's ability to climb a tree,It will live its whole lifeBeleiving that it's stupid."
There's more truth than you think to that.
Is this really it?
Nothing more, nothing less? I have to ask,
Is this really it?
The rest of our lives with the flick of a switch?
Offices, highways, business card masks,
"White paper visages encrested with blue orbs all around me. The cold look of hatred is what gives me shivers.
Those who are blind left in the dark
the dumb without books
the handicapped floored
the young ignored
hundreds Of millions of heads
twice the number of eyes
all of empathy Sheds
My american dream is life
When all I want is to die
A life with peace without strife
A chance to try to fly
I want to continue living
But cannot stop looking back
But the future is unforgiving
I Am Hispanic. No, I am not the pale whiteskin of America;
nor am I a non-speaking Spanish American.
I am a hispanic girl with two cultural backgrounds
with a bilingual tongue -- and I might be said
He asked me if I loved him.
I said I'm sorry no.
In a population so belittled.
Love meant so little.
While hatred,
Overpowered it.
The press somehow devoured it.
Tombs, tombs, thousands of tombs -
As far as the eye can see.
The blood of patriots spilled -
To water Freedom's sacred tree.
How brave they were, O God indeed,
To fight and die for me.
Pack your suitcase, get on the plane
Barely four, barely knew my name
It's time to leave my home behind
In search of freedom and peace of mind
Brand new country, "paved with gold"
In every country there are hardships to be had.
Diseases and disaters! There is no stopping that!
America is my home and what a home it is.
When nature seems our enemy we always know what to do.
They argue. They bicker.
Inside we snicker.
To hear them spout what is best for our country when they don't even understand it.
They have their money.
They have their fame.
Happy Birthday America.
That's what today is about
Everyone clapping; everyone cheering
Some will even shout
I can't say I share the same emotion
Things happened long ago
Isn’t it awesome, that rivers are forever?
They are forever, and yet you will never stand in the same river twice,
The river is a new being and packs a punch like a spice.
Isn’t it awesome, how as humans we have grown?
I'm here to sleep
like America is today
never to speak
Just follow a path one way
who needs art
when you're molded like clay
Rip out the part
that we wish would stay
In the constant praise for our country
We forget the misery and suffering
That persists within so insidiously.
We have worked tragedy unto others
The real calamity is how we let it be
What Crevecoeur said about America being a melting pot is true!
My teachers and mentors say that is more like a stew.
However let me prove it to you
For once I explain then I can tell you my troubles
Cracked, weathered, pig-skinned tools
affectionately craft
softest, supple, virgin-hands of suede.
Desert: my mountains,
sky scrapers: your zenith.
Let innocence climb high,
Sometimes, I get tired of white men on screens
I get tired of being told to care about what they believe
I get tired, of no one listening
My voice is loud
How do they so easily turn the dial down
GoPro cameras and Selfie Sticks, our ancestors would be horrified.
But it doesn’t matter because fabricated images, and fraudulent stories are glorified.
What’s wrong with putting your best self out there?
Bombs everywhere, missiles left and right, clenching my gun in my hand so tight. Side versus side, so scared but I will never show it, America the Brave, proud and heroic.
“When I get older I will be stronger, they’ll call me freedom just like waving flag.”
Langston Hughes had the blues when he said
I am a yougin and you might find what i am saying is obsurd
But i need to speak up and say these words
My brothers and sisters
Look what has become of us
Living in a country where people are scared of us
Don't wear an upside down smile
No matter what your life is worth while
Take it from me, I lost my daddy
But I refuse to let that terminate me
Yes I miss him
Yes it hurts
Put down the gun
take off the helmet,
unstrap the boots
wipe off the blood.
Halt the tanks,
discard the missiles,
write me back
come home soon.
Just end the war
Two months ago,
as I stared at my skin in the mirror, I asked myself why.
They told me it would be hard,
they told me the side effects might be harsh,
but they never told me
my disease would make me die.
Freedom, what a word.
It is so obsorb.
Freedom in a filter, perhaps so.
Some however, will not let the filter go.
Afraid to let the scars show,
Afraid to be less then pro.
All eyes on you
Its time to tell the truth
We finally got the spotlight camera action
We must take action
So we must act
Not on a stage with the man pulling the strings
This is not oz
Mama, please pour some bleach in my bath water
I need to wash this dark stuff off my skin
I need to look like the ladies on the television,
Fair skin, and petite noses
That’s what’s pretty
A boy raised to be nothing but successful in life, educated and uneducated in what is his purpose, given the impression that he will be discriminated and intimidated by the real reality of the world , grew up on the southeast side of Dc not by ba
They'll write my name in a history book
and write about me
they'll say
that taxes were high
and polls were negative
and we were at war
with others
with each other
Can I Get A Story
I am Black and American
Yet I am labeled as white
And not because I bite
I pledge allegiance
To the flag
I remember the day
My best friend said
“I think I might be gay”
Land of the free
Home of the brave
As long as you're white
And not transgender and certainly not a queer lady.
America: Land of the Oppressed, Home of the Cowards
I am sick of our society
I am sick of the inequality
In one brief moment,
One fleeting spell,
I spoke too quickly
To do me well
My words, so hollow,
Then held weight
And thrust upon me
A heavier fate
My beloved Houses and Home
Ameica is the land of the free
Home of the brave
But how can we be brave
How can we be free?
If walking down a street
Means you need to bleed
Where are the free?
Because since all live in fear
As I looked into his eyes
I was just a child, his child
He was JUST my daddy.
My daddy that was in glossy pictures clothed in Camoflauge.
To Be A Woman In America
means to be scared when you walk down the street
means to have to fight twice as hard to get just as much
means to have to listen to rape jokes and not start an uprising in the middle of class
A boy shot in the street
A cop with a gun
Six witnesses and hard evidence
Darren Wilson is given paid leave rather than put behind bars
Ferguon is called a riot area
As they block off any reports
Demons go up to me suddenly talking nonsense,i am like God is this real?He nods and says revelation apocalypse, so i kneel and ask for strength to hold on to the throne because i know when people hear this demons won't leave me alone.Heaven is my
I burned the American Flag.
Literally.
I burned the American Flag and I recorded it on video.
should I say, I have known these armsor should I say, I've long known their facesI don’t need an eternal litanyof hymns before I believe them.......
If we knew then what we know nowThat there were worms in their teaThat woes and headaches awaited usAt the end of the road beyond the seasWe would have pleated our dreams at home.
Troubled in school with a rough past
He signed a couple papers to start fresh
Now being tested mentally and physically yet always comes last
Pushed to the limits with aching limbs yet he pushes on
The land of the free and the home of the brave.
We come here to start new lives because our old ones are close to the grave.
In Pakistan, we lived with servants and riches.
A body in the street
but no one knows how the small child sees
his brother dead facedown
now he will be remembered as a corpse and the child a statue
Is this what we wanted
Say what you will about my country
But I am proud of her in every way
Instead of uniform
We, the people, are strong in numbers of uniqueness
Unique and strong
Like a puzzle that fits
Hey! This is a poem that I wrote describing the unfair economic system in America and how I feel being a woman of color in the USA and the daughter of refugees.
Bang, bang
You hear their shots being fired
It's only a matter of time now
Before the whole place is covered
Your friend lies there in pain
Will you soon be doing the same?
Bill Buxley was the richest man you’d see.
He had stacks and stacks of money.
He bought furs, cars, houses, and clubs,
Tigers, casinos, shoes, and Persian rugs.
But he was a vain man, never willing to share,
Dear America,
I saw a little girl today with tears all on her sleeve
Her eyes were empty
hands were old
Why did you crush her dreams?
She dreamt a day when kids could play
and water would be clean
The journey awaits
Get ready to embark
We don’t want to be late
It’s almost time to start
The ship is ready
Strong and tall
It is steady
And sure won’t fall
I'm not just scared for me, I'm scared for my brother and my nephews. I'm scared that this world we live in will never give them the chance to reach their potential because they are black men in America.
Elephant and Donkey each gearing up
The day starts new the sun shines the elephant smiles
The Donkey watches the people smile
The Donkey rejoices with tears of zealous vigor
A new day begins, the sun fades
I want to be successful, make a change in this world.
I want to be successful not just for the diamonds and pearls.
I want to be successful for my family.
I don’t know whether to shout being ugly is okay, or that I’m beautiful anyway, because society has taught me I’m wrong in everything I do.
How do I mourn the death of
four Americans, one child when death is
everywhere - else.
I can crumble into shards of myself crying
over the death of my Uncle Jimmy,
it’s personal to me.
Writing poetry is a way to stay alive
After bein murdered day in and day out
Working, loving, and fighting are all just ways we die each day
Poetry is like a tourniqite to stop bleeding
My dream
My dream is to finish college
To be able to afford everything I need.
My job
My dream job is to be an Occupional Thraspist, OT for short
Finishing my associates,
Going on to get my masters,
I guess I could have went to that abortion clinic
I could have went through with it
I could have killed a living life
Instead, I am suffering sleepless nights
America is the greatest, our striped banners large and soaring, towering over a
High school will soon turn into memories.
The ones you use to call friends will soon be strangers.
As you leave to college all you can do is look back.
Wishing you can take it all back.
Anarchy is mistaken for freedom.
Decisions no longer involve wisdom.
Two sides are pitted against each other.
No one will agree with one another.
Understanding is known as old-fashioned.
Day after day
You talk about revolution
How the world should change
And why everybody else is wrong
And then you go throw pennies in the well
Watching the water ripple
he said i cant believe it would you ever no she wouldnt america the free is gone we've ruined it degenerate
Geocentric?
More like ethnocentric.
America is the center of the world, right?
The world that revolves around me. My world.
Egocentric.
I’ve heard America’s laughter and see smiles on their face I’ve heard America’s words to others, a disgrace I’ve felt Americas sorrow and anger from their mothers I’ve seen America’s racism and how one can act toward others I’ve witnessed America
Is it possible to diverge from an ethnocentric view?
Why do people have to try and make others “civilized,”
They don’t get to understand the people’s culture,
Instead try and change them into the “better” ways.
A haze of smoke hung thick through all the air;
The cries of dying men echoed 'round.
The light from booming cannons showed an eerie glare,
Twisted figures lay strewn upon the ground.
A short Poem by Stephen Strausbaugh
Lie, Steal, Blame, Kill
You look down at us atop of your hill
Writing bills, but seeking thrills
Only you have a license to kill
Only you have a license to kill
America is my home
In no small way am I alone
but we don't want to be acting like fools,
so American society has to set a rule:
I watched a video of a man
Immigrants
shipped into the American Dream
plundered of their culture
left as empty shells
crushed by greedy hands
tossed into melting pots
molded back into shells
carrying America within.
It's all about the money,
It's all about the popularity.
I don't think I fit in with it.
Don't want to be a part of it.
I tried I couldn't handle it,
I took my pride and I ran with it.
The atoms of imperfections fog the mirror these two eyes stare into
They search for meaning in the midst of it all
Life is still a blur
I carry the shackles that forbid me
That restrict me
The land in which we live,
The land for which we fight,
The land in which they love,
The land in which we die.
The wars they seem to start
When I was a child
my mother
and all my teachers
told me that I was "gifted".
They said that I was brilliant,
had such potential,
smarter than all the rest,
and that because of this,
Breaking down the sullen streets
the things at night that no one sees
the bravely fought, the coward won
the poor old man who gave his son
this nation's heart, its duty calls
America the Free~
But freedom has a price
Tears fall from the innocent
As they watch the souls of their loved ones
Tumble to the heavens
Questions unanswered
Nothing yet gained
Another day another conflict. It's an ongoing fight.
Another law passed to strip us of our God given rights.
They take away our land. They keep their hands in OUR pockets.
Merging onto streets.
We flood as an aid to those in need.
We see the pain, cries, and pleas.
Freedom is so everlasting.
My Mind;
My only mind;
The one I hold dear;
So dear;
Without such;
My opinions would be non-existent;
My thoughts would be nothing;
Nothing for I;
Nothing for anyone;
A lady at the store once called me
A Great American
Beacuse I gave her an extra discount
Patriotism
The American Hustle
Opportunity, Lust, Possibility.
A sharp sting of poison seeping through your veins,
As I sit and think,
As my mind wanders it leaves.
As it goes, it goes to places unbeknownst to even me
You see that banner flying tall and proud?
That's just a mask for the country falling to the ground.
Please take me to the motherland
I heard love can manifest
Yin and Yan they coexist
Please take me to the motherland
Where alchemist don't trade souls
For the chemical make up of gold
I bleed red, white, and blue
With stars across my heart,
With the stripes burned into my mind;
Giving everything -
All my experiences;
A little taste of home with each step I take;
Infatuated with ourselves
We bath in crops of greed
Sown through our hubris,
Ignoring the whelps of need.
A scourged culture, made
To feast on each other obsessively
They swallowed tears
before I came
to Angel Island,
their America stained
by the leaking blood
of those who stilled
their writhing flesh
with a hanging noose
America is said to be the land of dreams,
where others go to be happy and all voices are heard,
where God can be Allah and one is free as a bird
America is education and the shoes on your feet.
If I drop one tear it’s for my brother
Living alone with no mother
Thought that life couldn’t get any worse
When guns putted my brother in a hearse
America the Brave,
but there's children outside who need to be saved.
Using talent's for change, but yet no change.
America the Brave, this superior country.
With the power to change, I would change power.
The people have to struggle while our leaders just cower.
Few enjoy all the blessings of wealth,
What Would You Change
You have just been given the power to change anything in the world
What would you change?
The United States of AmericaThe New WorldAn escape for a new lifeA new beginning
Freedom of speech
Or freedom to be rude
Freedom of religion
More like freedom for discrimination
Let’s get real here
People are racist
Especially my generation.
I want to live in a world without hate
Everyone who is muslim is not irate
If God is love then why are there religious wars?
The amount of fighting since ancient time soars
I hear America singing "freedom" for everyone.
I hear their hypocritical songs, singing long through the night.
I hear the rich belting their greed-filled, boasting songs
Little Toes And Bright Blue Eyes
You Are The Sunshine In My Sky
When You Smile It Warms My Heart
Because I Know We'll Never Be Apart
Beautful Baby From The Outside In
We live in a world where the American dream is a thing that is yearned,
Where liberty is free and opportunity awaits around every turn.
We live in a world where we are given every right to speak what is our hearts,
And this is why you are wrong
At what cost will this affect them?
Compared to what?
What hard evidence do you have?
I don't mean to put you on the spot?
Senator?
Senator?
Thank you
I Love you
I've grown up because of you
Do you remember me?
I remember you
We've met....
No not face to face
Not even word to word
But I know you, I lived with you
I, too, paint America.
Red, Yellow, Green, White, Saffron.
Colors
on the vast canvas they call “America.”
I paint with the color of my skin,
with the distinct hue of my culture,
Race.
What is it?
Who needs it?
Does it really make a difference?
Or does it only impose limits?
On the soul.
Skyscraper tall as mountains
Long highways as river
Cities crowded of people
Nation of the food
The best athletes
AMERICA
Black, White
Latino and Asian people
A-M-E-R-I-C-A
7 letters
People do Wicked things all the time,
Some are just small time delinquents,
Manipulating people to make a dime,
But the real Hitch has been relinquished.
How wonderful it would be if all America could sing. Our entire continent would be one sweet song. A song that could unify everyone. This song would end sadness and make peace. With every note, it could turn frowns into careful smiles.
America you are pushing me in all of the wrong directions.
You have pulled saltwater rivers down my soft, child cheeks.
Everyday fighting, starving, and killing,
Everyday going through the motions,
Where is our American dream?
Where is the promise of a better future?
Those who want school can't afford it,
What's hard about being an american,
Is when I see a fellow brother begging from a can,
When people pass by just because they can, when they cant even spare a cent, when that could help with someone's rent.
It is dark and dreary.
The sun never comes out.
I feel so wet and sticky.
Why won't this mud come out?
I know not what it is like,
to even know how to ride a bike.
I'm stuck in this house,
BLUE---As far as the eye could see.The colour had swallowed us for so many monthsWe forgot about the others: brown, green, red, and gold.GOLD---A speck on the horizon smaller than a grain of sand.
BLUE---As far as the eye could see.The colour had swallowed us for so many monthsWe forgot about the others: brown, green, red, and gold.GOLD---A speck on the horizon smaller than a grain of sand.
It's red, staining the ground someplce I've never been
and never will go.
For me.
It's a sacrifice, a total giving of life
So I can keep mine.
I can breathe
Numerous years past, through our eyes, is the founding of our country, yet in perspective, just a few decades.
Zenith of mountApex of allNo peak to highNo aim too tallHe reaches, he strains;He wears himself thin.
Fear has no definite definition, or provisions but is without a doubt the basis of this country’s decisions.
She wakes up in the morning
She pours a cup of coffee
She thinks:
What is it to be Free?
What is it to be an American?
Shocking Failure, Blinding success
The only difference, A thin white line
We always make, A great big mess
1852.
Where am I?
What is this strange land that we happened upon?
I clutched my mother’s hand tightly,
Nearly doubling over,
At the stench of a strong sense of nationalism,
And pride,
Do you think they’ll notice?
Do you think they’ll notice how I
so carefully excuse myself before it’s time to eat?
Or that when I do, before I’m done, I’m out of my seat, on my feet, into the bathroom
A gentle breeze brings a sense of hope
As a young schoolgirl stops and breathes
In the scent of trees, water, and wind
Which permeate the field on which she marches
That field on the grounds of Gettysburg
Bound in contempt,
Spokes of spine pierce raw skin,
Like spears of war slaughter innocence.
Men.
Women.
Adorned with camo, and stripped of capes.
Mortal power stretched to its limit.
I am the one the leaders should answer to,
I am the one that began a nation,
I am the one who fights, the one who dies,
I am the one you depend on.
I am the people!
The flag stands where you were.
On the home front.
Defending what you love.
The flag stands where you were.
EducationTo be be educatedIs to be free From a mental prisonWhere the unknownIs lost among the ignorant
When he asked si celebro
Christmas, I responded
with a yes and a question.
"We don't do much no gifts
no commercialism not much
at all because there is
To whom do we owe the pleasure
of your enchanting spewing
graceful nature?
Around which many gather themselves,
a crowd to applaud your short comings,
and possibly a cheer or two.
shreds of winter hair shroud stippled skin,weathered by one, two, many weekscrouched and soliciting in the steady glowof our capital’s sun. Once full lips shrivel,struggle to form the one simple word
They tell my people to go back to their country
as if our nation's origin didn't come from immigrants.
A practically endless stream of copies lines the shelves at just about every store we can think of.It’s printed so very often.By so many different publishers.
Today I place my star-rimmed cap over my sunburned face
And gleam over the crowd with excitement and joy.
We are like the base of a great and mighty river after the storm,
The birth of our nation, with colors red, blue and white
We will never forget, people willing to fight
Tyranny heald the people in chains
But heroes were born, fighting in snow or rain
Dear Mr. American History:
Your tie: red white and blue,
representing the noose of oppression you pledge yourself to.
Blood is red
My outlook is blue
Your veteran dread
Makes my rift with you.
To any professor that has made my time on the GI Bil living hell.
Education is sort of like a loose screw, attached to a failing machine that tomorrow might turn on and we’ll all find out doesn’t work anymore. Here, let me clarify.
All I see is violence
All I hear are lies
All I want is happinness
All I get is hatred
Untames and Untainted
They hate me
And at times I hate them
All I want is a chance
Ambulance sirens.Someone else dying.Girls getting knocked up.The fathers leave or get locked up.Few fake cops.Walking out dealing with Opps.
Why are so you fat?
When you can be just as thin,
Some say what matters is within,
You say I can't help that.
Have you ever tried?
Whats within will surely become broke,
Approaching five revolutions around the star
O'er the great pond- I flew
To a promised land of health and wealth
A land of independence
A land of your founding fathers
But not mine
What a wonderful time;
For a wonderful change;
To celebrate America's;
Another coming of age.
Oh beautiful our country is;
Another year to renew;
United we stand;
My dialect is catastrophic. Viciously it consumes the minds of those who surround me. To catch only a whisper would reveal the sadistic sense of my nature. At least to some. Those who merge opinions with facts. Bellowing assessments of "this gen
The Red, White, and Blue.
With freedom upon her mind,
Fails to see the whole
Equal rights to all?
A faulty constitution?
Who has she become?
To turn she to we,
Soldier Who
Soldier who trains all day and night
And counts the days until departure
who is conditioned and unyielding
who is a dog tag and bayonet
whose hair is always shaved
By: Saranda R
Our flag waves in the ocean of pride that envelopes this country
With its economic strides and setbacks that we criticize
Adding to the problem, not developing a solution
Times are changing,
That’s no question.
The world we live in is constantly spiraling,
And we have been told it’s up to us to shape it into something we would want to live in.
Some things were left a mystery,Wounds were placed in hearts,As they waved to the departs,From 13 colonies to 50 states,They strived not knowing their fates,Families and friends waited in toil,As blood and tears fertilized the soil,Oceans to ocean
They say we are free,
If we are free, then why,
Why do we have men and women killed,
Is it really to stay free?
AMERICA
Home of the free, land of the brave
My country, my nation none other do I crave
The land where dreams are realized with hard work
Where imagination is appreciated and not corked
We are always learning, improving, developing
Evolving into something greater than we were
Becoming something better than the world has ever seen
Education is the means by which this takes place
For years, I have been cheated.
Exceeding your expectations with hesitation.
I don't want to be read to,
I came here to acquire your knowledge because you have a certification.
What was it you were thinking?That fateful day you leapt,out of those burning towers,as we all looked on... and wept.
Calm migraine,
the sweet pounding;
joyfully insane,
tranquil death.
Questions thicken the air,
a warzone.
Up above, down below
a warzone.
The field of grass so fair--,
sometime i don't understand u.
And that makes me hate u more
think of the pain u gave my ancestors how could i ever throw that away on the land we built today we still in slaved
It's the beauty all around, that calls sweetly to deaf ears. Persisting that it's presence be found, but not many hear. A voice melodic, story hypnotic, with love and sadness intermingled. Eternal love and freedom began with strife.
I can see right through the fog,
The mist that seems to be blinding everyone’s eyes.
Don’t fade into the shadows,
The shadows of these hallways,
Making people fake, hiding like you.
Life is a list, of things good and bad
Things that make us happy, things that make us sad
We have a nice home, to give us shelter from a storm
"Home of the Free and Land of the Brave.." But what does that really say?
Knowing our children can walk around without fear, Always knowing safety is near.
Every day is full of laughter, never worrying about the day after.
I peer into your eyes,they quaver and fillbig, somber: greenthey overflow and spill. The tears thunder down your cheekslike the towers in the daythey crash and they screamfaster than anyone can pray. Your flushed cheeks utter gaspsof horror and pa
When will it be my turn?
My turn to learn, to see what it feels like to earn; To make good grades..
Teachers thes days don't give me much to look up too.
At five years old, I hardly understood
The tragedy that had just occurred.
I vaguely remember my kindergarten teacher
Frantically racing from one room to another
Desperately trying to gather information
The altar stands merely a few yards away from me.I sit in the middle and look at my son Reeve.To my right are my father,mother and husband.To my left are my son, sister and niece.
You call yourself a teacher, I call myself a student.
You teach, I learn.
Those are our roles, but what happens when you can't do yours?
You don't teach, I don't learn.
She is at an awful age
of youth and exhaustion
of revelry and caution.
They say "Your whole life is ahead."
But weigh her future on the decisions
of today
How can she discover herself
when
"Terrorist!?" Is what they call the man who simply wishes to experience the freedoms aloted to me and you.
"Terrorist?" Stigmatizing an entire culture for and event that is not his fault.
It's wrong of me
To want to be equal.
It's wrong of me
To not feel like a woman.
Or a man.
It's wrong of me
To not be sexually attracted to anyone.
It's wrong of me
Welcome to America!
Where the image of women being depicted in submission
Is easily found in magazines and search engines.
The mask put on comes off before the morning,
Destroyed from the inside out,A tragedy sinners do not mourn.No pity for a star.
Here bright and burning,Here dark and cold,Alive as a star,Dead as a star.
My eyes glaze over,
His words drown out.
I know he is speaking,
But no words come out.
Pondering between yawns,
Correcting his lessons in my head.
His words never make sense,
Whoever decided to come up with the word "hypocrite"
is most undoubtedly a genius.
The perfect word
for the unperfect human condition;
Contradiction.
Oxymoron.
Retirement of the Flag
The flag represents the American Soldier
It flies in the wind as the soldier fights in battles
We sit on our cotton made, silk lined couches.
We entertain ourselves by watching Hi-Def TV on 62'' flat screen televisions, while eating a hot homemade meal,
I live in a world, full of opression,
my mama is barely able to cook in our small kitchen,
I look to my left and I see the old me,
I glance to my right and all I see is ugly,
A toll we hear,
Beckoning us towards liberty
A hope,
Only dreamt of.
Has it been realized?
People living, people dying
People working, people twerking
People love the way you lie
Hot dog, baseball, apple pie
Cell phone, iPhone, 3-4G
He was mine
And they took him away.
They’ve already forgotten about me,
About him.
A flash of army green
A spark of fire
The sizzle of sand
He was gone,
They took him to a place of war
america
land of the free
home of the brave
home of the lies
and land of the sick
every day a celebrity is being interviewed about their "hard life"
while a soldier is away from loved ones
Taco Bell and diet Cokes
Don’t be fooled, It’s all a big joke.
“It’s low-fat and sugar-free”
Really? You think packaged food is that easy?
Pesticides and chemicals
Too old to be cared for, too young to be respected
John was very obedient, yet still quite neglected
A sad story it is, but not very rare
As many others in his class, had similar tales to share
One GUN
One BULLET
One SHOT
Two HEADS
One DECISION
Already MADE
Hide all LEADS
This niggers DEAD
3 minutes UP
two on the CLOCK
add some GASHES
bruises and KNOTS
a door opens,
but not by me.
responsibility
to respond
and receive
a fix, yet the problems
still exist. mixed
company to coupling
to troubling the waters
The land of oppurtunity
The land known for dreams
Paved with gold in its streets
And love in its population
Acceptance and fairness in its government
A melting pot of cultures
It gets darker as everyday comes to an end,
The flesh is so weak, some cannot help but sin.
Day in and day out, we try to get it right,
but with all the recent tragedies,
is it really worth the fight?
I too am America
Even though my ancestors are from Africa
Even though I have a southern drawl
Even though I don’t shop often at the mall
I take my fate in my own hands
Hail to the almighty
Jingling coins shiny
Even on my death bed
They nickle and dime me
For the rights they deny me
And the freedom they say were fighting
There's a number for everything
I woke up one morning to a very dark day
I couldn't go home my parents they went away
the streets aren't so friendly
theres terror in my eyes
No place to call home
I'm all alone in the night
What is beauty?
Well if I were to give the simplest definition I’d say you.
What is beauty?
America.
Home of the brave, Land of the free.
But it seems we hide behind the walls of our homes every day.
Yet our homes were built from the ground that’s supposed to let us be,
Free.
(First time recording from probably a year ago... Flow is to be tampered with still and an ending is still debated.)
Dear Soldier Man
Thank you for doing all you can
Dear Soldier man
The way you've dedicated your life, you've gained a fan
Dear Soldier Woman
I appreciate your bravery! So I salute you
America,the grand old U.S fo A,the soil withholdsthe sweat whichbuilt our strengthand pride.
Red,white,and bluecontinuallysways a cheery helloto all who visit.
Everyday we live our lives in dichotomy
Will my decisions be wrong or right
Straight or gay, fat or skinny, black or white
If only things could be this obvious
Trayvon was killed, and he walked
So much dependsupon
his broad and freckledshoulders
still and at silentattention
next to red, white, andblue.
This world that we live within
ignites with a passion that we cannot rescind
where expression is done on a whim
pouring out from every limb
a single brush stroke, a single idea
The girl sat on an empty street
Her face was as sullen as her surroundings
She softly lifted her face in hopes of a single ray of sun
dark as the dust of trails
you soar in heavens blue
your majestic spirit never fails
to your colors remain true
We wait for what never comes
We listen for what is never said
We see politicians hold up their thumbs
But so many soldiers are dead
We hear the cries of the families
They mourn the lost with memories
They've enjoyed our waiting
They've indulged in lies
They've prolonged discussions
They've listened to our cries
I've lurked in the shadows too long
Fireworks light up the summer skyIn every American town tonight,Blooming like rare flowers inSudden bursts of enthusiasm.They wilt as soon as the have come,Reminding us of our brief hour upon the stage.
Land of the freeLand of the apatheticLand of the dreamersLand of the broken
Home of the braveHome of the hopefulHome of the better tomorrowHome of the bitter
Life is hard enough as it is. Something has to give. Struggling every day, but I thought that a life of luxury was the American way.
She’s like a small orphan, searching,
Waiting, praying for a better future
As she balances on a creaking swing.
Watching the incoming family, clinging
My poor little orphaned country....
Nobody watches over you, nobody cares.
There's only a leader that sits back and stares.
You are left out in the cold, all alone to be attacked.
As Summer descends to its end, It creeps in
Fall
Under the notion that overlooking summer's 94 limitted days
will cause the season to last forever.
Most of us say we need it,
but do we truly believe it?
We are in constant competition to win the prize:
job positions,
checks written;
Don't look surprised.
It's all about phases we humans go passed
The way we want to find ourselves
To define who we are
As being the first to go
The oldest in my family
I set the path my two sisters are destined to follow
America! Those beautiful blue skies of freedom!
Why oh why do you not cry
Can't you see?
No? Then just listen to me
as I tell the tale
It has been told time and time again
with Greece and Rome and Spain
i hear the world screaming, the sickening wails i hear;
those of the hopeless—each of them a separate and eerie tune
the homeless shouting his, humble and strong as he walks through cold and empty streets
Humans are amazing,
We can do so much in a matter of minutes,
And yet our minds are still racing.
Sad to say, we do it for the business.
Everyone is a witness.
We complain about the money,
We’re up before the dawn yawns
And dressed before the sky sighs,
Chirping phones like birds in early morn.
Take ten minutes to fly by,
Grab food before the car starts-
Save time by eating on the way to work.
Guns
Knives
Bombs Blood
If you want this?
You want to be Uncle Sams' son
Heat
Stench
Burning flesh
Hells just the begging of a war never won
What they don't tell you
When you become
This right here, is America
A land carefully constructed atop an intricate foundation of lies
With a Society that'll quietly step over bodies of those who were victims of pardoned crimes
Upside Down
Oh someone turn them right side up
I think they’re pining after a dream with no luck
‘Cause maturity will find them
Freed but still chained.
Dry it still rains
Women.
The evolution has changed drastically.
First there were role models, then there were icons
But now a red sole defines one as her majesty.
From the likes of Sojourner to Rosa
I want to taste jazz on my lips as it swims through brass tubes and valves-
I want its echo to call my name on a still night in July from a bar down the road.
I am from beloved dolls, from bubble wands and crabapple trees.
I am from bright colors and playful spirits,Bookshelves and stacked boxes.
I am from dandelions and low-branched trees.
My only crime is my religion,
So my sentence is severe;
They’ll declare the death penalty
To my presence on this hemisphere.
They say I’ll have an impartial jury,
In this Land of the Free,
One day I was sitting in history class
thinking of things that have yet to be asked-
like where are the weapons of mass destruction
and why’s the constitution under construction?
What. Is America?
Is it
the juxtaposition of pink toned flesh
against deep caramel skin?
Is it
the way his tresses twist and turn
whilst her strands lay straight and silky?
Babies are crying,
While adults are going to work,
Children playing up and down the streets,
Everybody laughing until reality sets in,
Wondering how bills will be paid
The homeless starve on the streets,
And the people never stopping, never sharing a glance, never sharing a thought.
Blindly, we follow and nod our heads to the beat.
Lyrics are nonsense when music is an industry.
Nobody wants to think.
Nobody wants to learn.
We defer to the media to dictate our concerns.
Once a little girl
Full of life
Nothing brought me down
I was always happy
Not a care in the world
About the tragedies of life
I didn't even know they existed
At least they didn't in mine
America. Land of the free.
A land where you can get married based on the gender you were born with, but not based on who you fall in love with.
America. Land of the free.
I tried living in America,
the home of the free,
but the people there were greedy
And the government didn't work for me.
Looking from across the way,
I see that mark across your face
The mark of past experiences
The wrath of lost experiments
I see that scar and the beauty behind it
I see the emotion the passion beside them
Though we are different and unique
Two separate cultures and worlds apart,
I fear society’s standards will force you to depart
Sometimes the future with you looks bleak.
You are from the Arabic world and nation
I do not understand.
No hello to people on the street.
Keep walking, keep walking
Don’t make eye contact
Shit, are they talking to me?
Keep walking, keep walking.
We are cold individuals.
16 is a young age,
not an adult yet but still seen as a child.
That is until,
you become with child.
He came out with hazel blue eyes
all they said was he looks like his daddy
well what about me,
16 is a young age,
not an adult yet but still seen as a child.
That is until,
you become with child.
He came out with hazel blue eyes
all they said was he looks like his daddy
well what about me,
The Beatles once said, you need to change your mind instead
Rather than revolution, changing the institution, rewriting the constitution.
But I’ve made up my mind,
And I don’t have any more time
The following is a tale of a girl named Penny.
I being who I was made me somewhat unpopular,
So my usual attendance at events was solitary.
America, the land of opportunities
You are the land of chance.
You’ve not always given your opportunities to the right people, but
You’ve given your share of chances at success, and far too many chances at failure.
Change
Change of society, people, pressures, power
Change of lifestyle that forces us to be different
Think different,
Behave “politically correct”,
When our people are crying silently, begging for us to change.
As we lay on the soft, dew-wet grass, staring into the night sky as
Colors boom and bang around us, as we sit perfectly still,
So perfect, so quiet, yet peaceful.
Two young souls lost in the ashes of the fireworks.
Always known as land of the free and home of the brave
Many people come to stay
Everlasting song and dance
Restful sleep and a bit of romance
It's the best place to be
Come here and you won't wanna leave
We live in the land of the privileged.
But our humanity has been lost.
We have so much power,
but that power comes with a cost.
We are one group in thought and mind
A body of people made equal.
Our strength is a tenacious kind
If we see another sequel.
I dreamt of a Kingdom in the Sky
Teeming cities and purple mountains
Stretching far and rolling wide
I dreamt of a great foundation
Cradled in the arms of the fallen
A black and blue, a bloodied nation
Prisoner of war,
with brothers not found,
to your servitude
we are forever bound.
Your strength we admire,
for it is not abound
in the men and women
at home safe and sound.
It hurts to think about you
Day or night, rain or shine
I don't know what to say
I love you; I hate you
Your mistake, your love, but why?
What if the harmony of saints and sinners /
Broke in moments o’er passing of bread? /
Temporal and shallow, this generation envisage /
Martyrdom, not white but red /
-With “New Colossus” (1883) – Emma Lazarus-
“Give me your tired,
Your poor,
Your huddled masses,
Yearning to breathe free…”
The stars of 50 states reflected in the sky
The eyes of American people filled with tears to cry
Oh Nation of the Free! Oh Home of the Brave!
Your shining gleam of hope has now begun to fade
Born to a different breed & raised in the Heart of the U.S.A.
My family worked hard to make me who I am
And I'll appreciate what they sacrifice every day
My America is soiled
My America is controlled
My America is greedy
My America is hateful
My America is full
My America is empty
My America is hopeful
My America is useless
Our World is quiet, and operates in shadows.
The secret committees commence with their meetings.
The silent leaders annually rendezvous.
We are strong and stealthy, though we are only teething.
Deep within a hot blistering day the
trees swaying whilst the wind is
array. The sun illuminates the slaves
scared slays and America fails to
open her young eyes.
Let me break into your thoughts,
I’m a mindbomb, ticking time bomb.
Seven years I wore the the veil
shielded myself and kept pale
news shunned like yesterday’s mail
happier than my previous trail
Protected saplings;
Symbols of what Anne Frank viewed for years.
Her entries foretold what America would cherish,
And gift to seven of the nine discriminated students
Of Little Rock Nine.
Yank out the boundary and grip the independence.
Point out we can do whatever we want.
We the people, are trapped, but we attempt to grasp for the limitless
We try hard, sweat dripping down a scar, falling out of our palms.
Who are we?
We, who razed down walls that kept us hidden,
Spoke firm words that altered the face of the nation,
We who stood up for equality in an unfair society.
We are women.
Uh. Uh. Agency. History. Word. Here we go:
United States, United States
Tryin' to show the world its pretty face
But 'merica's history ain't always a pretty view
Open Zinn and Russell and let's review
Rights,
not so civil,
more like fights,
and long nights,
unending battles for the freedom,
goals: we all yearn to meet them,
we all strive to gain what's ours:
equality.
child of democracy,
America
Land of the Free, Home of the Brave,
The Land of the Depraved and Enslaved
Where voting is a universal right fought for by centuries of plight
Sun shines through, the red white and blue.
Freedom and equality.
Selfless sacrifice, there was a price.
Such a gift to be free.
Black, White, Asian
Indian, Native, Mexican
all given titles
by who, not our creator
but by his creations
In a Nation obsessed with
political correctness
His creations; Are Not Very
Oh senses
For sensation brings desensitization
And one man's trash, today, is the same man's treasure of yesterday.
Unless, one learns moderation
Learns to say "this is enough for now."
In this great Melting Pot is there really room for more ingredients?
Careers
New Life
Education
They want it all
Seeking far and low
To become new creations
Carrying stress and pressure on behind
A battle scene,
A terrible war.
Does this seem familiar?
Has it happened before?
In the midst of the battle,
Both sides losing ground;
At the same time, on each side,
A man is hit down.
Last night, in my slumber, I had a dream
It was an American one, one of exceptional encouragement
And oh the intricacy of this grand scheme
So grand, the world knew it was nowhere near forspent
