America Is Crying

 I refuse to give up what is rightfully my heritage

 

Thankful am I, we never sold the land we had

 

It was not ours to sell

 

The land, she is the gift of life from our creator

 

We gave up what was left of the house we held deed to

It was our home

 

 The foundation of our roots

 

 We fought to save our home

Only how do you save save a neighborhood

 

One house at a time, one block

One man, one woman, one child

At a time

I love my hometown but it has become a ghetto

 

Where a once too tall and  proud glass city stood

 

With her concrete buildings, streets of brick

 

Paved parking lots and expressways

 

I love my city but it brings me to tears

 

The people are raging in fear

 

It is a ghetto drowning in alcohol and drugs

 

With poverty comes prostitution and the scum of the earth

 

This is destroying everything upon the surface of my mother

 

No more!

 

I for one won't take a backseat anymore

 

I am fed up!

 

There is destruction of properties and lives are at stake

 

The devastation of mother earth in my own backyard

 

The front yard is no better

 

Downtown is where all the monies go

 

So the rich and wealthy can play their games

Of monopoly and molestation

 

Of this great nation

 

Now they want to bring casinos in

 

Making it a more impoverished area than it was before

 

Everybody hates the homeless

Fear the mentally challenged

 

All they see is poverty

 

Derilects and drunkards

 

Thieves, rapists and murderers

 

Liars of all sorts and adulterers

 

These people run our streets

 

While we hide behind closed doors

 

Or look the other way

 

No one wants to volunteer

 

Or try to clean up the mess

 

If I had a million dollars

 

Everybody wants to be a millionaire

 

Everybody wants a piece of the pie

 

The American dream

 

I dream about the America that once was

 

 We called her by the name of Turtle Island

 

We lived on the shell of her back, she took care of us

 

In return all she asked was for us to return to her

 

All that was freely given to us

 

We take from the land and give back to the land

 

She is our Earth mother

We are her caretakers

 

I am but a voice out in the wilderness

 

A voice of many people's, cultures, religions and faiths

 

I cry out but no one listens

 

No one hears

 

No one sees

 

No one cares

 

I care!

 

We need to start one block at a time

 

One house at a time starting with our own property

 

Living in the inner city

 

In the concrete jungle

 

We need volunteers to come out of their houses

 

Into the streets and take back our neighborhoods

 

To go to work tearing down every vacant and decayed

 

House or building one block at a time

 

We need local businesses to donate

 

What supplies they have on hand

 

I'd ask my mayor, my congress person and state senator or representative

 

To address this issue very cautiously

 

I would love to go to Washington DC

 

Ask my president for special funding

 

To rebuild our homes instead of letting us starve and die

 

We are run into the ground with unemployment and slave labor jobs

 

Corrupt government officials misspending our hard-earned tax monies

 

Health care that no one can afford to be sick

 

Insurance companies that turn brother against brother

 

All for the almighty dollar that is shriveling down to nothing

 

A staggering economy

 

Jails and institutions for the mentally ill and criminally insane

 

Instead of sweat lodges, pow wows and rehabilitation communities

 

Churches that steal the tithes of their congregations

 

To line their silk pockets with silver and gold

 

All in the name of God and religion

 

They hide behind their brick and stone walls

 

No more outdoor sermons ringing forth

 

From the mountain tops to the valley below

 

No such thing as spiritual guides

 

Like the mighty soaring eagle

 

These days are earth shattering

 

Have we forgotten how our soldiers' fall?

 

Well, it's high time we look out for each other, here in the hood

 

This is our neighborhood and we are

 

Going to take the garbage out with the trash

 

This is the voice of sweet America

 

We are going to fight to take it back

 

We will take back our homes and our streets

 

In the name of all who have gone before us

 

All have erred and come falling short of her glory

 

Grandfather send us your blessings

 

Your magic and your miracles

 

The one and only living god

 

I am Tslagi, my people are like the rainbow

 

For they are black, white, red, yellow and brown

 

The color of many a people

 

I am Cherokee proud

 

 

Author's Note

Thank you for reading my poem, please feel free to leave a comment or a suggestion.

Reviews

[Su' Nacnetaf]

Interesting writing, speaks truth, mixed up a little with a melancholic tone, really wishing for something to be done, saying what you "would" do. This "would" actually keeps me thinking, there I can read "I care! I will start one block at a time" but shortly afterwards it switches to "I would... I'd... I'd... I would..." constantly saying that the author isn't actually doing anything and most probably won't, just an observation. The America turned to a ghetto which you describe is not really much different from the rest of the world, I lived that same ghetto in Russia and I'm living it right now in Mexico. You can blame corporations and the governments if you will, I blame ourselves, because it is the human lust for more (even when what you want is peace) what really turns society upside down. From a wish, it starts a strategy plan, a well planned strategy leads to success, from success, we nourish lust, with lust, we give birth to excess, and excess ends up murdering its creators, us. "I would change society's bottomless necessity for more to prevent the world from decaying even more", but I'm not the one to do the work, I'm not good enough. In the end, America is indeed crying, Asia is crying as well, Africa is crying, even Europe shows some tears, the world is crying.
Great writing, let us hope for a day when the whole world will start saying, "I will" instead of "I would"

[jacob erin-cilberto]

this is a fantastic piece full of pride, but also sadness and truth.
Native Americans who were here way before we were took care of the land...used it to suffice their needs but also nurtured it as well...But then we came...and so many of us abused the land and the people who held it to their hearts...i am always saddened thinking of this travesty.
j.

[Helen Crutchett]

This is a cry deep from within your soul. Intense, profound with such truth told.

Good write debeah!

[Adrian K. Smith]

To some extent I agree, yet to some extent I disagree. It addresses too much, which by the very nature of doing so - prevents its fruition. The country has become a welfare state because of the feelings of entitlement. While it is a powerful statement of what you feel is wrong, well expressed in that manner - I do not see it addressing the core issue of the problem - that being people themselves. Yes, you will have the people that want to be taught how to fish. You will even have those people that cannot fish for themselves and would find ample volunteers to fish for them. Yet there are simply too many that are able to fish, but they do not want to - and they are but a plague upon the rest of us. You could wave a magic wand, doing away with the corporations - change the way the economy works - repair every dilapidated building - regrow every garden... but it would not change the fact that some people simply feel a sense of entitlement and as long as we continue to support them, history will only repeat itself.

[Belinda Rice]

wow this was really great..I love how you feel the urge to stand up and speak not only for your self but others as well..You have a lot of koodo's from me cause I have not seen anything written so very well like this in years...well done and hope to see more of your great writing..God Bless

[Chaos]

I'm afraid any response that I could possibly give will only be an echo of what was already said. However, I think this piece is the spokeman for the feelings of many Americans that have been ravished by poverty, or have seen their family members be killed right in front of them for nothing more than someone else's honor. Your right, people are afraid to stand up for what is right. It takes more than one person to get the job done, but it only takes one person to bring the problem to the forefront. I love the passion in this piece.

[Albert Freeman]

Wow is all I can say. This is true and powerful poetry. This should be passed out and shared by everyone. A call to take back what is ours and to make it a reality of the dream it once was. This is one of the best poems I've read. Reminds me of Maya work.

[Dave "Doc" Rogers]

This was what the Kelts referred to as a telling. The Tsalagi also spoke this way because I remember hearing them talk as I sat near the kitchen table and heard them over coffee and cornbread. Too many have forgotten this earth is not to be conquered, taken away from our brothers and sisters but tended and shared. Thanks for putting this out here.

Cheers!

[Clyde Grauke]

I am sorry about the state of affairs you describe but I am happy that you see it, express it, and have a vision of what you personally can do within your range of power. The internet can be a great resource for ideas, examples, and groups relevant to the task before you. I would be neat to read in the future a straight narrative essay about what you did, how it worked, and what you accomplished. Good luck with taking back your corner of the world. I am a Cherokee Proud identifier.

[EILEEN McGUINNESS]

After reading this rant poem i have come to appreciate the desperation in the words,the absolute shock of how a community and it's people can be forsaken and how in these awful times depravity and desolation have set in along with the decay,i am very supportive of any actions you take and would gladly lend a hand to come and aid you in your hour of need, we need a JESUS ARMY of volunteers to bring about salvation to your torn neighbourhood,it is not so bad here but the things you talk about do exist and i am affraid helplessness brings desperation brings lawlessness.
Thanks for sharing i have indulged in the reading and now i will digest your profound words.