”The American Dream” — Salvadore Dali
This american life
is flawed
the american dream
though well intentioned
was built initially on fraud
america was stolen
native residents uprooted
persecuted
victim to a legacy of conquest
and imperialistic acquisition
fitted with contrived tradition
one cannot call it
a perfect union
though it has envisioned itself one
with liberty and justice for all
really
that dream’s a short fall
history has been its downfall
the first peoples of this land
this incredible land
we call — america
this land
so beautiful
from sea to shining sea
meant for you and me
that may not be
how some see it to be
these first people
who lived for 13,000 years
in balance with this land
these peoples may not agree
that what was brought to their realm
was justice and liberty
we have a long way to reach
for justice
for these first people
or those
whose heritage was kidnapped
smuggled from their homelands
on brutal ships at sea
abducted
to the land of the free
shackled
indentured
they may not agree
and for the displaced
who leave all they know behind
in the hope to find
this america the beautiful
who smack headlong
into the ugliness of bigotry
neither might they agree
and we have to really get to work
on the liberty thing
the practiced actuality
leaves a bit of a sting
I don’t belive it means
the right to take what you want
to use how you see convenient
to live the life you desire
regardless
with no thought for the impact
on the land
or the peoples who now share
this land
people
all of whom
have the same inalienable rights
to life
to liberty
to the pursuit of happiness
— at least as we so profess
and have inscribed indelibly
as our litmus of civility
but do we believe this
is there the understanding
and love enough in our hearts
to uphold this
perhaps not I fear
somewhere along the way
we have become lost
instead of seeing our america
as a land of opportunity for all
for those here first
and those of us
who have come
and are still coming
opportunity for all
is not how we live it
we seem to have made
an unfortunate pivot
to now see opportunity
as a rumble strip
over which we thunder
to ravage and plunder
shifting from a legacy of conquest
and imperialism
to an equaly toxic
legacy of speed
and greed
lacking to heed
the destruction to this land
and all its people
we have never fully learned
the grace
the beauty
of balance
it seems
not in our parlance
in our misguided arrogance
we squandered our chance
to learn environmental balance
from the first peoples of this land
this precious and fragile land
we now call — america
people we labeled only
as savage
as ignorant
because we were too arrogant
to look deeper
to see their reverence
for the land
for its animals
to see they were the keeper
to understand the necessity
of this reverence
in our ambivalence
we rushed to acquire and consume
and systematically destroy
this amazingly diverse land
under our self-proclaimed banner
of progress
of civilization
we cared not to understand
the irony of the social
and environmental chaos
in which we find ourselves
I hope is not lost upon us
given this america
built on the backs
of the oppressed
of the slave
still is supposed to be
a realm of the just
land of the free
home of the brave
the place for opportunity
prosperity
equality for all
love
justice
equality
freedom
opportunity
responsibility
understanding
these words it seems
have lost their meaning
under these spacious blue skies
‘midst these amber waves of grain
in these majestic mountain’s purples
in the lush green of our ancient forests
in our nation’s widening divide
their meanings have slowly died
each becoming a ghost in the burbs
fading
like this dream
that is america
Wake Up!
become the ripple
that becomes the wave
that becomes the tsunami
that floods the world with love
to see a new sun of understanding rise
before we all drown in greed, hatred, and lies
Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Love Tsunami” by: rob kistner © 5/16/24
.*
there is no freedom
if all are not free to live
with peace and justice
*
rob kistner © 2023
More poetry at: dVerse
More poetry at: Whats’s Going On
