Ok, I'm not paid to think (like the TV shouting heads) , I have no real voice (vote) , and certainly no credentials - but I'm as invested in America as any high-school citizen can be - I've pledged allegiance 3000 times (hhmmm.. do they doubt our loyalty?)and when it comes to loving America I'd have to say my classmates and I are at the center of the spell.
I'm afraid we're growing up in the age of hate.. the age of phony outrage where each position large or small is high noon and violence is underfoot even when policing ordinary citizens.
We won't address the multitude of old problems in this new age.. we'll just unleash a marquetry of half truths to dispute the proven until unreasoned arguments reach their paranoid fullness. The real world is alarming enough - lets just push that away and ignore it - while we're at it lets slut shame the poor, the old, the sick, the unemployed, the hungry and the hand of mercy.
I realize America was never one moral atom bonded for better.. but those anvils that forged us appear neglected or forsaken. I'm afraid what's happening now, what we're seeing and hearing now, is a symphony of erosion - that by the time I have any say at all, the middle class will be gone - america turned slum - where even the voice of despair will be turned traitor.
We'll only be able to see our greatness in museum souvenir shops where nothing is affordable and everything is made elsewhere.
Hey, anais, I found your poem and it IS on PH....today. I'll come back to it to finish readinga and to make comments. Remind me if you wish to. : )
It seems that the repetitious hurling of hate-weapons becomes a crescendo that won't stop, boring but also scary. Despite the disturbing ugliness, I think your age group still has strength to pound a few atoms of our frayed moral substance together.
In this vein, I invite you to read my poem: THE STORM-FRONT IN A POLITICIAN'S FACE.
p.s. I don't recall reading in the poem about one of her 'topics': police brutality. 3 stars to show that I didn't 'hate' it, but was not well-impressed by it. ;) bri
The poet now give definitions of some words from her poems...after the poems, which is very helpful. Three years after this poem was submitted on PH I'd like to see if anais would write the same on this subject.
As for '...America was never one moral atom bonded for better', well, look at the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance (to the American flag) for examples of some words which 'don't ring true'/don't agree with reality. bri : )
I kind of like THIS symbolism: 'symphony of erosion'. Are YOU the conductor. I find this poem overly-dramatic and lacking in concrete examples of what the author may want to say.
According to one online dictionary: 'Slut-shaming is the practice of disparaging women, and occasionally men, for acting in a manner that violates 'norms' regarding sexually appropriate behavior.' I think at Yale it is used more liberally.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
I'm afraid what's happening now, what we're seeing and hearing now, is a symphony of erosion - that by the time I have any say at all, the middle class will be gone - america turned slum - your vision and concern about America. it is very true. tony