hey - havent been that up to date with the site, but ive been doing spoken word pieces a lot lately at open mics and slams. this is one of my most recent ones. read it out loud, scream it.
-
america
america i love you
america your BMVs are
circus parades of ordered equality
Big Mac wrapper tumbleweeds bounce
beneath million dollar stoplights
that force such beautiful obedience
america,
you are the father of the single file line
you invented the 28 hour work day
you realized the true beauty of living in debt.
you forced the grief that forges art
america, you fathered fathered john deer
and floundered dear johns
you interjected the mini into skirts
and the mega into malls
you mixed petrol and bad food,
puree, made it all so fast, america, oh,
i dont even know how to enumerate my
affection for you.
i know its not all in BMVs and fast food.
oh. oh yeah! world war II-
i loved what you did there.
everyone else did too.
even now, 63 years later
we still pay homage to your
ten minutes of fame
dodging the guns of navarone
to invest in manhattan project massacres,
bands of brothers crossing thin red
lines to save private ryan
cable channels, books, and movies
documentaries that scream
"HEY! Hey you!
i know you might not agree but god damnit
I SAVED THE WORLD."
yeah, all those little boys and girls
you see playing cops and robbers
thats me.
visions of harmonic ways
made real in places called Lazy Daze
thats me
sleeping sound in our beds
cause we know big brother is around
thats me
emigrants finding new lives
working for a life of equality
thats me
roads constantly paved but never,
ever completed
thats me
freedom of speech through
penalty of law
thats me
antique roadshows and law
loophole gunshows
thats me
sliced bread? hah! fuck that.
give me TV dinners, thats
me
subtle television subconcious suggestions
thats me
poverty education through
30 second TV spots
thats me
marginalized minorities into
stifled jail cell screams
thats me
CIA
thats me
NSA
thats me
watergate
thats me
Guantanamo bay
thats me
klu klux klan
thats me
globalization
thats me
free trade wage slaves
thats me
vietnam
kuwait
afghanistan
9.11
iraq
iran oh yeah,
those are ALL me.
and while you screamed at me defiantly
id really like to argue but
i really ought not to.
because, america.
well.
i wouldnt know what to say.
my rant might sound sarcastic
and it is most definately a bit dramatic
the truth is, america-
i dont really know what to think anymore.
you see, a place that is
young enough to dream ideals
of equality is also
lose reality to naivety.
i could spout statistics of death
follow the trends of discontent
pin up pie charts of prejudice
pick and nit quick quips at racism, but,
america-
numbers,
figures,
modes and
equations
dont fill my heart with elation these days.
i can only imagine the pride when you first
penned the phrase,
"all men are created equal."
i bet it sounded so sweet
outside of this modern
hypocritical context.
when i drive through your city streets,
i have trouble believing you EVER bought into it.
america, your sons and daughters
lives arent built of
make believe medical bills
hollow point slugs of stardust
unemployment income pitfall happily ever afters, no,
i find that all to be VERY real.
but, you'll forgive me if i laugh when you
tell me that a group of
razorblade necktie aristocrats with
three times the years and five times the income
to be "representation" of us.
yeah, thats right, america.
us.
working hard every day to pay for school, that
in the end, wont pay for itself
us
late night whisky rants on so-called democracy
us
local musicians with more talent and fire
than the MTV millionaire aerosmith wannabes
us
smashing streetsigns in boredom
us
ingenuity fertilizing grassroots subversions
us
flickering neon open sign warmth
us
broken corner beatboxing, cracking cymbals with laughter
us
local blues and cigarette lightning sunsets
and the gorgeous girl you'll NEVER talk to
us
educators excited working for pennies
so they might have a chance to change a single life
us
kids cutting through red tape
to find education against all odds
us
and our hearts smash
us
when, time and again, the biggest mistake
that you reiterate to
us
is hope.
america, my heart is cracked
my soul is shattered because,
as best as i can figure,
america
is no longer included in
us.
youve made it quite clear that you've
found someone else, and yeah,
i bet she laughs at all your
legislation.
i bet she gets wet when you
flex your trillion dollar
military muscle.
and she never shies from
hastily washing the stained sheets
of your kinky foreign policies.
and, well.
i guess im not mad anymore.
truth is, you havent been there for me in years.
im over it. really, i am.
because every day im finding ways
to enjoy the america that i live in.
the land of limited opportunity
the world of cheap beer love songs
where some still realize that
making something of yourself
doesnt mean
making yourself into merely some thing.
where art and expression are
as vital as breathing
a nation where i can say,
"aw, fuck it. i AM an american.
and im proud of what i am."
and with that, america,
ill offer you my ultimate act of defiance.
my final destruction of your system.
ill be happy.
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