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"

[EmpressPoetess]

a very eye opening piece. alerting people to what's going on and what needs to be said. great write.

[Bennett Logan]

I like this poem. There's a lot going on, but I like how you suggest that people take responsibility for themselves and their actions. Good work!

[Helen Woodward]

And you should be rightly proud of this ethical and morally sound piece of writing Deb. Send it to all who have a say in your welfare, all those you mentioned in prominent positions don't have the issues you address here...it is slightly lopsided and common everywhere. I live in a small community and we band together in any crisis.
Kudos for this well-thought-out article...your opinion will not go unheard. I also agree whole-heartedly with the previous reviewer in all he said so eloquently.
Extremely well written, congratulations xxx

[charlotte talley]

You said this very well. I like it, it is so unfair to have to go through this. I guess life is cool just unfair. I will keep this in my library. keep it up girlfriend. you write beautifully.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

Revolutionary and delightful! This high spirited poem stirs the blood. Well done.

[D. L. Hutson]

Excellent. Very Powerful. I loved everybit. It was very inspiring. Keep on pressing on.

[Norma J. Jessee]

Extremly powerful write Debileah, Your words surge through me and give me even more courage to fight back. America is our home and we have to protect it just as we would our private homes. I think that is what a lot of people fail to understand. They seem to think that they have no power to change things but the constitution starts out " WE THE PEOPLE " and it is that WE who have to reclaim what is rightfully ours and makes the changes.

Thank you for a beautiful inspiring write.
It goes to my fav's

[Wicahpi]

You know I completely understand and see this same thing here on the rez.
It's what my husband lived and died for...to make a difference.
Peace n Light

[AK]

And yet the popular majority recently elected a man with no relevant experience to the most powerful office in the world because he promised "change". Well, we are seeing that change now. More lost jobs, more taxes, more hate and distrust, less representation, more government (even into the doctor's office with us), more secrets, more "good old boy" legislation.
I wonder if perhaps the America we grew up in isn't dying even as we watch helplessly.
Great piece of writing though...

[Captain Blackheart (The..]

You sound very comitted and understandably so. Anything begins one step at a time and you need to push on and on even when thing seem to not be going anywhere. A very powerful piece of writting, I wish you every success in this.