America the Beautiful Girl beside the Flag

 

 

America the Beautiful Girl beside the Flag

 

and America goes on

and goes down

in the flames of burning economy

carries its violence across borders to countries, unfamiliar

 

and i, with an economy of words

try to be a poet

and carry a theme across the borders of pages

 

suggest two hearts

can be more familiar

with an onslaught of passion

that rises above skin and bone

in regarded tone

 

as America goes on

prattling tales of yesterday's onset

and journeys toward tomorrow's sunset

 

(with us hand in hand

mind in mind

writing free verse sonnets

of insulated purpose

 

saving ourselves amidst

deluded diluted anarchy)

 

and America goes on

with or without us

yet we sing of red, white and blue

bleeding towards one another's wounds

whiting out the typos caused by others

and feeling a blue expanse between us

both in miles and sadness

 

and America goes on

burning in its greed

and monotonous arrogance

 

 

but the heat is insignificant

because we are the core of the blaze

that reaches

the core of the blaze

that teaches

 

peaceful resistance

in catastrophic harmony

(like two countries)

willing to

join lines

and fill pages

with the power of

poetic settlement

 

wresting the chaos

from within our breasts

 

as America goes on.

 

erin-cilberto

1/13/12

Reviews

[Anna Banasiak]

very true,Your imagery is very nice,well crafted poem

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Anna.
j.

[barleygirl]

I love the way your message feels terse & pinched like you can stand to emit only a few observations, unlike blowhorns going off constantly. Your details are well-selected & creatively-stated. This is the only way to write a commentary these days without becoming part of the droning noise out there. Love your lukewarm reassurances (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i really appreciate your review Margie...means a lot to me, especially with this kind of poem.

j.

[Ted Kniffen]

Funny thing, j. America has pretty much always been a bit of Jekyll & Hyde. Tearing herself apart in the Civil War. Men standing up in sheets...other men marching arm in arm for civil rights...putting men on the moon and then denying it happened. JFK not acceptable because of faith. Selma...Watts...Detroit...Kent State. People tend to look back at the sixties like it was Utopia, but it was really a time of madness. America tries...she tries damned hard...and yet, from time to time, the schizophrenia shows through.
We have entered a not so brave new world. One where the free exchange of ideas & civil discussion has become anathema.
Pity!
We can hold out hope for another Lincoln or Churchill...but I'm afraid we'll just get more Obama & Trump.
If only there was a way back to the common ground

[jacob erin-cilberto]

It was not a Utopia, for sure...but there was movement...something different, less apathy....
good and bad back then...mostly bad today.
thank you for your insightful words, Ted.
j.

[Ted Kniffen]

You're right, j. Amidst all the chaos there always seemed to be hope that we could make a better world.
Doesn't appear that we accomplished much.

[Carolynn]

Very powerful Jacob. We all feel the pain of our own Countries that are suffering in a similar way.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Carolynn.
j.

[θεά]

A timely hard hitting write. Jack Kerouac would be very happy. Him and the many 1968 Post-Structuralists. Because, you've questioned the heartlessness of the system. Not just the symptom. You are a very important writer and thinker, Jacob. An asset to this site.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, Mallika...
j.

[Neville]

This is an incredibly powerful write, I almost wanted to type 'rant' just then, but that, would have been doing these fine words a grave disservice .. Certainly, as an outsider (non US citizen) this poem/dedication is seemingly full of truths...and dangerous truths at that... there seems to be a divide or schism, that which is not necessarily new, but which is much more universally evident... I have strong feelings and anxieties about the future and hope all my friends across the pond forgive me for suggesting that Tweeting is for birds, not for Presidents.... I could go on but gotta cap the rant.....Bless ya jacob.. Neville

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, there is such divide...and among those who are supposedly leading us...it's hard to put faith in them.
thank you, Neville.
j.

[Neville]

I guess you knew, that that was what I was getting at... my sincere pleasure jacob... N

[Corset]

America the beautiful who does so much for and against other countries with so little thanks in return, don't think of her as a government, think of her as a people. Think of her as us, think of her as a beautiful girl in a swaying skirt.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

nice thought...i wish i could still think of her as "us" and as people...but people care...or used to.
thank you, Corset.
j.

[KCthelastboyscout]

I wonder what you have written about this country when you were a teenager or when you're younger man? How much has your view changed since then? I wonder how my view will change when I'm a little older at your age?
America is still a young country compared to others around the world. It feels like we're in those crazy toddler years. Unpredictable and still learning

[jacob erin-cilberto]

back in the early seventies when i started writing? Peace and Love!
thank you for the read and your words KC...and i would really like to hear your views when you do get to my age.
j.

[Lydia Shutter]

Unfortunately, we no longer have a moderate choice in the USA. We have candidates that are either too far to the left or too far to the right. There is no happy medium...there is just no happy really. As Buffalo Springfield sang, "Nobody's right if everybody's wrong". If poetry could solve the world's problems, you and I would be in politics, but I doubt either of us really wants that. Instead, we must say what we want in the lines of a poem and hope to make a difference while there is still time. A great socially conscious write, Jacob. Lydi**

[jacob erin-cilberto]

"step out of line, the men come and take you away"

yes. no moderation...that is so true...and we do hope to make a difference, but can we?
The Beat poets tried...and most of them are gone...but the ones left...like ferlinghetti...i surely wonder what he's thinking now.
thanks, Lydi.
j.

[Einstein Noodle]

you hit all the fine points sir! i am waking to a new day and not only America ..but all things have moved on ... i feel you my friend ... i selfishly dismiss myself from the battles before us .. i am retired damn it! ;) my children and yours have picked up the baton and have sprinted off into the horizon without me .. so I created my "Dad's Corner" and send them snippets of my "great wisdom" from time to time ... leading from behind as it were ;} i guess we just have to have faith that things will recover even from the darkest of depths ... yet we carry terrors for our children and grandchildren with us don't we ... your poem has put me back in the race ..i hope your proud of yourself ;)))))))
E.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i am glad you are back in the race, E.--

i too should be retired but am still ambling along teaching...can't give it up...love it too much...i see both apathy and futility in my students...we talk about it...a lot.
j.

[Einstein Noodle]

i think your classes are pretty energetic my friend... wish i could sit in ... soak up some youth :)))))))))

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Would be fun to have you join us...you would add much keen insight to the discussions.

[Einstein Noodle]

why thank you sir! top o' the mahrnin' to ya!