”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
Wow, any one of these stanzas alone would be crushing, but they just coming and coming…
~David
I am just so fed up with the rhetoric, the in fighting, the subtle and not-so-suntle racism, bigotry, the prejudice, the hypocrisy — just felt too much today… so I vented. The problem was, I got plugged into the “news” during the holidays, something I try to avoid. The focus of my tirade came in the senryu at the end. Will we ever “get it”?
well said
I needed to say it Rog…
Thank you for the Joni song, Rob, and for your honesty expressed so vehemently in this poem. It’s not just America – the human race is flawed. I’ve been watching a series called ‘The English’ that was an eye-opener, seeing as it’s set in America in the 19th century. I particularly like the use of rhyme to hammer the message home, as in these lines:
‘native residents uprooted
persecuted’
and
‘smuggled from their homelands
on brutal ships at sea
abducted
to the land of the free’.
Thank you Kim. I love my country, this spectacularly beautiful country, but it breaks my heart to realize how far we strayed from the dream, imperfect though it may have begun. It is further sad to know, we have struggled so hard to share it with all, equally. I’m just an old hippy, who genuinely believed, and spoke out for peace, and love, and freedom — but I’ll soon be gone. Sadly, this is becoming NOT the country I wanted my children’s children’s children, to find in their future.
Yes to all of this, Rob! I so agree.
It really bothers me, too, that the loudest flag-wavers are often so ignorant of history, and they want to make certain that future generations share that ignorance by banning books and discussions of anything that goes against their false image of the US. And, as we have seen, there are people in leadership positions–in all branches, executive, congressional, and judiciary–who are also ignorant of history and law, and/or believe it is fine to shape law to their own beliefs.
And not just here in the US either.
Nice to know you’re a kindred spirit Merril… 🙂 …wish I still had the health and energy to stand up and fight the foolishness and false facts, but all I got left is my writing, and the few folks I can reach with my words. My years on stage are behind me, but the memories rally on.
This would be a great poem to read aloud
Perhaps I will my friend, at our next OLN live. Thank you for suggesting that JYP… 🙂
You nailed it, Rob. It is mentally and physically exhausting to see/read what’s happening. I am in a constant state of amazement every time a new story airs.
I am just getting too old to deal with it Linda. Thank you very much for the kind words my friend. 🙂
I have always held dear that freedom can only be served to those who use it responsibly enough not to infringe on anyone else’s freedom.
Absolutely Bjorn. My country still struggles with that — unfortunately… 🙁 …appears the human reality is yin yang in order to maintain balance. Wish that didn’t apply to human rights.
Steal, dominate, destroy.
You flesh it out awesomely, Brother.
Thank you Ron… Seems any human advancement must begin in dark corners — kinda sad…
Fantastic Rob 🙂
Thank you A… 🙂
A noble-with-truth, singing essay, Rob. We can’t go back but we can work towards restoration.
I would love to see us feel like we’re moving towards restoration Lisa. It sometimes feels like we’re going backwards deeper into this dread and darkness, but maybe I’m just getting old and grumpy. Happy new year to you… 🙂
Rob, this is a GRAND poem! Perfect for the beginning of a new year. Like you, I grasp the enormity of what is happening in our world, in our country. A ‘clear and present danger’ … can we get it back? I am not sure. Happy New Year, my friend. My son and I head down to Florida on Sunday morning, spending most of the month with good friends and former coworkers. I think of you more often than you might know … please take good care.
Thank you Helen. I am trying my best to sustain. You take care as well. It is nice to feel “known”, and to know I have a place in your thoughts at times. I feel a warm camaraderie towards you as well. When I lived in Oregon City, and I had my health, I would journey over the mountain to fly fish the Metolius for trout, troll Lake Billie Chinook for salmon, and spin cast same for Smallmouth Bass, and enjoy the high desert — especially Sisters. It is nice to share with someone who understands thd magic of that region. 🙂
Powerfully said, Rob. So true. I am reminded of a quote by someone “there can be no peace without social justice.” I have a prompt coming up at earthweal that tackles the situation in Canada with the First People. The story is one of dominance and oppression. The words North America uses paint a pretty picture. The reality is a long way from the words. A wonderful poem. Like you, I am so weary of the partisan “politics” – everyone concerned only with power, no one serving the people.
Thank you Sherry. I am beginning to think that this world of isolation, suspicion, fear, conflict, desperation, and greed we have created as human beings, has made it less and less possible for us to act humanly — namely… kind, caring, and cooperative. We may in fact be in the early stages of a new extinction — the human extinction. It may require there to be far fewer of us on this glode we are abusing, and those who do remain, be in a critical survival situation of essential interdependence, perhaps a reality toward which we are in fact now moving, ever and ever faster, even though there are those in the top percentile, who either refuse to acknowledge it, trying to instigate it, or are wealthy enough not to care — it may in fact require a situation that critically extreme, for our unified humanity to genuinely resurface. Perhaps the aftermath of global anarchy, and related chaos. I sure hope not Sherry, but we seem to be moving too far away from that essence of humanity, to prevent a mass human upheaval, even extinction. That said, this may be precisely the necessary path upon which we find our species. It seems we should possess the intellect, as a species, necessary to avoid that. However, the evidence pointing to our making significant and timely progress in that prevention — does not encourage optimism. Maybe our current version of intellectual beings has run its course?
I tend to agree, Rob. We learn the hard way. The transformation of consciousness may come on the other side of cataclysm. Whoever is left will be forced to learn another way to live on this earth. Hopefully Indigenous people will survive to show the rest how.
I think the continued general simplicity of most of their lives, and their deep reverence for, and connection to the earth, and all that is of the earth — they may have the best chance to survive the coming human extinction event.
Powerful words. The same rings true for Australia (where I live). We have much to learn about the true meaning of the sentiments we mouth while oppressing indigenous people, making racist slurs and degrading the environment.
And I hope Suzanne, for the sake of our species, that we soon truly learn the essence of, and begin to manifest, social and environmental balance — or our extinction may be rushing at us at an exponential speed.
Oh Rob…..I am so late to the reading having been preparing for our 2 month move to CA and then doing it on Thursday. But now I am catching up and find this. AMEN! AMEN I say to all you have written here. So POWERFUL – so thoughtful – so reflective.
I am reminded of how there are many of Wampanaug Indian heritage who still live in the New England area who convulse and cringe every Thanksgiving day when children in elementary school don pilgrims’ hats and “Indian headresses” and “act out” the first Thanksgiving time as if it was a peaceful and righteous time. You’ve given voice to all that I think, my friend. POWERFUL write!
Thank you Lil, very much. We are very fond, here in this country, of out revisionist or blind spot history. And if we say, “OK, but that wad then, we know and do better now.” Oh, we do huh? We may blindly want to think we have, but there are minorities of many type, that still encounter inequality, even open prejudice, on a daily basis. Some entrenched systemically in our society. And the social, financial, and environmental abuse and disparity continues. This lack of balance, displayed by the human species, may prove to be calamitous — and we do not seem, as the human community, to either comprehend, or care about this ticking time bomb. The human species is supposedly the “intelligent” species. Perhaps so, but we are also proving to be the most self destructive that has ever occupied this beautiful space ship earth.
This is so potent, it read like a flood of truths. Wonderful.
Thank you Rajani, just tellin’ it as I see it…
Wow, this is so well written. 🙂
Thank you Kitty… 🙂
No, the world you give a savage due will never get it. That’s the point where hope begins, off that grid and transforming in another! You describe the fallen tableau complete.
I hope we can survive as a species to get to that grid of transformation Brendan.
Very thorough here, Rob. We were bad, bad.
“Freedom’s just another word if it ain’t free,” per Janis Joplin, ‘Me and Bobby McGee.’ The UN might not let us take so much but I’m not sure because how slow they are in getting Russia to back out and give restitution to Ukraine. It was such a pretty place, now almost in ruins.
..
Yes Jim — Great line from a great song written by Kris Kristofferson.
A mighty fine rant that sings of hard truths. I don’t think society will ever get it right. Sometimes, I feel like reality is distorted. Our vision is misguided and we cannot see through the haze of what is and what is not. I worry about the future 7 generations from now, my friend. What will the world look like? People have lost their collective minds but, I still hope for a miracle.
Rant on my friend….
Even history books have been revisionist. The further back one travels in the historical logs, the more likely the truth lies somewhere between the details in tales told by those who were at the “cause” of the “history”, and those who were at the “affect”. An amalgam of the accounts kept by multiple such sources likely results in the most useful “history” — with reasonable adjustments made to account for the “legends”. It is important, I believe, the accept that there is an irregular patch of grey that lies between the black and the white of history — and I am not referring to race, but rather the facts.
An epic and thoughtful and thought provoking poem – Jae
Thank you Jae. I first composed it a year and a half ago, and sadly it’s even more pertinent and relevant right now than it was then. Very dangerous times ahead.
Rob, I love every line of this poem, as I did the first time. The exact same can be said in Canada. Is it that we are such a young country, compared to others? I don’t understand our lack of comprehension about how to live in balance, with respect for all. A most stirring poem. I am reminded of Benjamin Creme’s quote: “there can be no peace without social justice” – it is being played out in every part of this planet. But the corporations are more powerful than governments, a sad truth.
Like I commented above to you my friend. If we humans don’t sort it out, it will be sorted for us — and that won’t be pretty… 😐
p.s. I have lived through so many movements – for civil rights, for women’s rights, for the right of all beings to live in peace free from war, for climate justice for Mother Earth – it is very disheartening to me, the state we are in right now and how we are on the lip of catastrophe if the wrong choice is made next election. I am so glad you wrote about the First People, who have lived harmoniously and respectfully on the earth for thusands of years then watched us destroy everything. It is hard to look back at 40 years of activism and see where we are at right now. Wildfires are burning in Canada already. A community of 5000 got evacuated. A long hot summer ahead. No direction by government to enforce lowering emissions. I hear you, Rob. I feel as desperate as you do. As bad as the last half dozen years have been, given the right choices, the next half dozen can do a lot to turn things around………..so much is at stake. We live in (faltering) hope.
Frustrating as hell Sherry. You and I have lived parallel experiences. I am an old hippie, who “believed we could change it”. My rock band was a protest band that traveled the Midwest. Now the world needs to “believe” again, and do a much better job turning that belief into the reality of change. I still embrace hope, even through a haze of uncertainty. If we don’t change, change will eventually be forced upon us by the natural energies of this earth — or we will simply be removed by extinction. Natural history proves that. Nature finds a way… 🙂
“to now see opportunity
as a rumble strip
over which we thunder
to ravage and plunder”
Here, indeed is a grabbing of the “the moment” in description and image that the prompt calls for. You have chosen a vast landscape in space and in time, and the poem is a powerful one in its own right. I can see the strip at each place in time, and have lots of associations with “Ravage and plunder,” especially at the points you emphasize: the stealing of land from indigenous peoples, the enslavement of African peoples, and displaced peoples through the ages and particularly, now.
I am do pleased this resonated for you Susan. I felt the rumble strip made a good line of demarcation for the segments, thank you for grasping that. 🙂
PS: The illustration and the music you include here are terrific!
Thank you Susan… 🙂
Every word of every line rings true. And truth is power that could be felt all through the poem. Bravo!
Thank you Sumanna. This piece wrote itself in a sort of stream of consciousness — it carried me along, as if were writing itself. Mosr fanscinating experience. … 🙂
You’ve added something to this poem since I last read it, and looking at it again I love all the different shapes of this poem, Rob, like the USA itself, so many different phases and attitudes. And you’re right, ‘american life is flawed’.
As a child, I wondered why Western films were always on the side of the cowboys and soldiers – and then I watched ‘Soldier Blue’. You’ve reminded us of the naked facts, and I imagine that, for some people, they are hard to swallow – but swallow they must, like the poor women who were shipped in to be treated like prostitutes by white men out to make a fortune by raping the land. Yes, they squandered their chance ‘to learn environmental balance from the first peoples of this land’.
Yes Kim, I expanded and refined it to pull the elements wore tightly in flow
You have expressed your thoughts so well! I know you wrote this poem a while ago, but it still really rings very true. So much has changed for this country so far, and every day there is something more that disallusions me. I am really afraid of what November will bring. Thanks for sharing this powerful piece.
I hear you Mary, loud and clear — and you are most welcome… 😐
Penned with the perfect mixture of outrage, dissapointment and longing for what could be. A clarion call that needed to be written and more-so needs to be heard – but above all lifts the heart of this reader who knows she is not alone…and in so reaching in and squeezing my heart and soul you complete the mission of the poet on this spinning blue marble we all share. Thank you .
Pearl, I am so very glad this resonated for you. 🙂 Thank you for being brave in your beliefs. We need more to embrace this courage. It is a dangerous and critical time in history, not only for america, but for the world. We have lost the natural balance. Survival of the fittest is great to make a species strong. But the perverse survival of the cruel and most greedy, brings about extinction, not improvement. Cruelty and violence, strictly for the sake of greed and control, does not exist in the balanced natural word. Evil is a human disease.