Where Did America Go? Poem by Jamie Loughlin

Do you remember
when we used to believe
in the Star Spangled Banner
and the American Dream?

When the reporters had to
be truthful
and if you worked hard
skin color didn't matter
but you were what you could be?

I believe in our potential
for both good
but also bad
because right now we're destroying
what we already had.

I miss being able to talk
without being called privileged
even though I'm poor
simply because I'm lighter
and when I was born
my melatonin was lower.

I work like mad
for hours a day
to make up for what I lack.
At the end of the day, however,
it's my race that pulls me back.

I miss when I could
take a knee
for my country
and die for its cause.

Where did my country go?
Down the rabbit hole
of communism
for the justice of social cause.