Greatest Nation

Its pictures were of snow-capped mountains,
Beaming faces of all sorts, of rockets, and of
Documents which named how we were free.
Its text described the nation's gifts, the fertile
Land, the forests and the fish, the minerals,
And it explained how stern, determined men,
Arriving from exhausted places, quickly put
These gifts to use to build our wealth and
Make us strong. "America, the Greatest
Nation:" title of the book I read in second
Grade, and simple truth..., but soon I
Disbelieved. Which freedoms could the
Woman being rolled along the pavement
By the water from a fire hose have named
And known to be her own? What dammed
The wealth from reaching kids in rags
Outside of tenements? And was it strength
Or wretchedness which led those boys
With beaming faces into jungle villages
To burn them to the ground? America,
What sort of nation? Average, as such
Bodies go, a land of jails and broken
People, dirty deals, and gifts used up
And ruined, mountains covered more
By homes for idle heirs of those determined
Men, than snow. I found a copy of that
Book for sale this afternoon, and bought it,
Not to read its simple lies. I watched it
As it burned.



Poetry by Lawrence Beck The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 13 times
Written on 2013-02-23 at 14:45

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