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"

[Debra Stevens Edwards (..]

This is an angry write but also very understandable. I think we each have to start with doing what we can each one do put the humane back in humanity. This Nation has become narcissistic and unfeeling.
Hugs Debby

[Suelou]

I see the same kind of things here in my hometown. There are way too many in poverty now days. I am with you, if I had a million dollars, I would make it better for everyone.

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

Powerfully dramatic and full of rage and concern... you raised your voice and spoke up with pride... nice job.

[Pax Analog]

Well said!

You firmly and accurately stand up for the only ethical response to top-down global corporatist monopolies:
bottom-up local fair trade, neighborhood reclamation, human dignity.

The fact you go a layer deeper into indigenous Cherokee integrity impresses all the more (I'm part Cherokee too).

This is a sound piece, darlin', addressing the struggles of we wilderness exiles without succumbing to melodrama, remaining fundamentally true in the face of Matrix-suit usurpation, a process running sociopathic for centuries.

Strong work -- I'd push this piece into the mainstream, as it is a valuable real people's document.

[Samuel Dickens]

I think it's a lot worse where you live than where I'm at, but it's true that the mega-rich have done well the last few years, probably at everyone else's expense. I can only hope that there will be some improvements in the other direction now that we have a different administration. Time will tell.

[R J Askew]

A really strong write this. I love the power you evoke. It is a vitally important message. Writing should not just exist in some abstract place of mind but be a part of real life. Your poem is entirely about real life. And once again it is left to a woman to say such things. There are too many dabs that I like for me to mention them all, but I like backyard/frontyard, and the turtle dab. I nodded vigorously about the casios point. In the UK the labour govt tried to foist about 10 super casios on 10 major cities. The people really, really, really did not want casios, drink, drugs, prostitution and the plans were dropped. Some say they bring jobs, but I wld not want any of my kids doing those sorts of jobs. When I look at America and the slapping that Obama is getting over trying to sort out the health issue I am stunned. And certain Americans say Britain has a terrible health system. Well, they are wrong. It is the American way of 'money buys health' that is barbaric. I follow the US health debate closely as the outcome will probably determine more than just the health issue. Without some kind of social cohesion the problems you pinpoint in your poem can't be solved. Robust individualism makes winners, but it makes more losers. Where there is chaos and ruin only those in the midst of it can change it. All power to you! One block at a time! You have moral right on your side. We have all seen where the big shot winners took us ... the credit crunch, economic collapse, unemployment for the losers. No more! The selfish few must be curbed so that the rest of us can breath and be decent once more.

[David Lewis Paget]

Sounds horrible! Is this a true picture of the American dream? Thank God I live in Australia, where our cities are relatively clean, and our politicians are answerable to the people. We have a drug problem too, and where America goes, we usually follow; but we're way behind you on this one. From your description it sounds like any improvement will have to begin with a bulldozer. All the best!

[Charles D. Moorer]

Making it a more poverished area than it was before, Did you mean impoverished?

Have we forgotten how our soldier's fall? Did you mean, soldiers fall - not possessive case

[Bennett Logan]

I can totally relate, Deb. Truly-not necessarily as a Cherokee, which I'm not, but as a resident of New Orleans. I live in a town where people know the politicians are dirty and crooked, but nothing changes despite it all. The place is falling apart, the schools suck, and there are still parts of the city that remain untouched since Hurricane Katrina four years ago. No matter who you vote for, he (or she) is still a crook, and you're never 100% certain where your taxes are actually going. You just know it's someone's personal bank account. On top of all that, the federal government hasn't totally gone out of its way to help. It just ain't pretty. This is what your poem brought to my mind, anyway. Thanks as always for sharing!

[Nish Nish the Fish]

I like that you used real examples from your life to express the fact that we all need to do something to help the world, the country get better. I wrote a similar poem, Waiting For Time, which id love for you to review; anyway, this is very heartfelt and effective, your viewers are right, you DO have a lot to say. Well Done!