This week, Mary Lee Hahn, at A(nother) Year of Reading, is hosting an "Independence Day Roundup of Protest and Praise for This Complicated Country We Call Home." Mary Lee shares a powerful original piece entitled "America."
I didn't get any new writing done this week, but I'm sharing a powerful and timely poem from Aileen Cassinetto, "There are no kings in America," which was first published in 2020.* I've included some excerpts here but be sure to read the whole thing. (Link below.)
There are no kings in America
by Aileen Cassinetto
we are not that kind of country.
We are sanctuary for the hungry,
the homeless, the huddled,
held together by an idea
our immigrant fathers believed in.
....
recognize the sacrifice
of the widow and the orphan;
it is to understand the weft of tent
cities expecting caravans,
and the heft of a child in a camp
not meant for children, or sitting
before a judge awaiting judgement.
What do we say to the native
whose lands we now inhabit?
What do we say to our immigrant
fathers who held certain truths
to be self-evident?
....
(Read the whole poem here, at Poets.org.)
* ETA: On Cassinetto's website, she notes that she first presented this poem publicly on July 9, 2019. She writes:
On July 9, 1776, General George Washington ordered the Declaration of Independence to be read aloud to members of the Continental Army in New York. This poem, written in 2019, is a commentary on immigration, and how our actions compare with the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress.
~~~~~~~~~~
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.
11 comments:
Perfect. Simply perfect. No matter what these "gilded men" do, we will always be able to topple them. We will NOT forget who we are and what we stand for. Amen and amen.
And amen to your amens! xo
Ooh, those last two lines gave me goosebumps. Gilded men - like every other uselessly gold-plated thing - make a mighty crash when we knock them down. So let it be.
Speak up. Speak out. Speak loud. Be poets. 💪
Yes, Tanita!
Amen to that, Patricia.
Wow! This is from 2020? It holds up too well. What inspiration to keep going. Thanks! I needed this.
Linda, yes! On her website, she says she first presented it publicly on July 9, 2019 (and it was later published on Vox Populi, poets.org, and the Poetry Foundation.) She writes:
"*On July 9, 1776, General George Washington ordered the Declaration of Independence to be read aloud to members of the Continental Army in New York. This poem, written in 2019, is a commentary on immigration, and how our actions compare with the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress."
Oh, that ending, the words "glitter" for those of us who will keep fighting back! Thank you, Karen!
Linda B., yes to that!
Thank you, Karen. Very timely.
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