“Americans” by Ellsworth B. Smith

America in armed camps
We say to that, “No thanks!”
We’ll pitch our tent between them,
Can love ’em or can leave ’em;

We treat each person just the same
Was once the American dream
to be color-blind and free
To fearlessly have your honest say,
open to all you see;

Now hysteria rules the day
Hot-head crowds do stomp and bray
Shutting down displeasing speech
They fill the streets with clamor loud
Good will dismissed;
We’d like to flee to closest cloud!

Call us idealistic
Tell us we’re naive
to think we’re all one nation,
black, white, red or green,
Doesn’t make us racist
(or sexist, phobic et.al.)
Despite what Khmer boys
trapped in ideology
would try with schooled minds to believe;

America the beautiful,
America the free;
Let’s get beyond our different flaws
Each one of us with unique cause
And say with ONE voice united, strong:
“Can’t we all just get along?”

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(Send your rhymin’ or stylin’ poems to funpoppoetry@gmail.com.)