Divided (previously published in Cat Ladies Against Fascism from Anomaly Poetry)

 Divided

Oh, America! You carry the burden of the words of your founders,
All men are created equal, perhaps, but destined for inequality, certainly.
 
Oh, America! Land of plenty, in which countless thousands starve in
Tent cities or sleep fitfully on your sidewalks, discarded and alone.
 
Oh, America! Land of the free who squander their freedom
On trivialities and self-destruction and hatred of the ‘other.’
 
Oh, America! Home of the brave who cower in the comfort
Of their homes, anesthetized by the ghost-light of televisions and computer screens.
 
“Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Never were less sincere words
inscribed on such a monument.
 
Oh, America! In all the annals of time, has there ever been a more hypocritical nation,
Whose reality was less in tune with it’s supposed constitution?
 
Oh, America! Can we truly not afford to care for our sick, our old,
Our heroes, while always finding the funds for the next bomb or plane or ship-of-war?
 
Oh, America! How can we justify the obvious fact that our athletes
And movie stars are worth more to us than our children?
 
Oh, America! Where is your heart, where your sympathy and compassion,
Where your so-called love for your brothers and sisters?
 
This house, so long divided against itself,
Somehow still stands
But for how long, and for whose benefit?