Poetry

T. Chick McClure photo

By

Ben White

From a Citizen Exiled by Division

Dear America,

Greetings from the far side

Of your red-rally rhetoric

And your hyper-nationalism

Disguised as patriotism.

I just wanted to drop you a line

And let you know

Your troops

Are occupying my state

And patrolling your southern border

Where people cry

Bilingual tears,

So relax and let

Your fears eat breakfast

Without any doubt

Or worrying about

Your eggs and bacon

Being shared with anyone

Your emotions are afraid of –

Your economy is still made of

Your leisure,

Your luxury,

Your wants,

And your dreams –

Though nothing is

As nothing seems –

And keep spending your hopes

At the dollar store

Out on the by-pass,

And don’t ask

For whom the registers beep –

They beep for investors

Safe in the comforts

You pay for

As you pray for

The opportunity to vote

And promote the financial means

That might trickle down

So you can buy

Your red hat to wear

As you pick their tomatoes

Inside your wall –

Built, by the way,

In my backyard –

So you can feel good

About your brightened

Yet, somehow,

Still frightened

Future.

Ben White

Author of the books, Buddha Bastinado Blues and The Kill Gene, Ben White thought he was a poet, only to find out he is not a poet at all. He is a witness. What he writes is testimony.