I see America Golden

I see America golden 

From this Shenandoah hilltop

Fall’s fading greens and wispy greys and reds and yellows and more

The sounds of trucks and the

sounds of wind blown leaves 

 

 

I see America sad

I see my friend sad

His wife gone

As he eats through

Meals brought by his comforters.

In the fridge he finds

the last meal she made for him

And he is sadder.

Yet happy for the wonderful life they had.

He inspires

I see America inspired

 

 

I see America murky

Stuck in illusions of holiness

Sacrosanct, feeling unique. 

Yet 

Wondering about its future

Uncertain of its past

Cloudy in the present.

Voices call out:

 Reinvent

  Rediscover

   Reemerge

    Reclaim: that clear path that glorious past

But the path has thorny bushes overgrown

And the past is full of pain 

And hope

And pain. 

We cannot simply forget 

the chains. 

 

 

I see America weary

From work

Worry

Sweat

And hunched sore necks.

Pounds added

Sugar consumed

I see the world wary

Of what it will, too, become

Bits and bites

And bytes and fights.

We forage and hunt

And plant  

Wearily the plants come up

To feed us. 

 

 

I see America eating

Thai and Chinese

Pho and Lebanese

Indian and tapas

And corn and pasta.

I see the masses coming 

Not perfect, but 

No place better to go

I see the deals flowing

The newcomers’ energy strong, vibrant 

Connected to their past through

Money wires and language

Yet looking, looking, longing

To the future of their English-speaking accent fading children. 

 

 

I see America embracing

Smiling with vibrations and

Sounds’ variations and combinations

Knowing we can be better

Knowing we are

All enlightened 

All brightened

By photos and handshakes

And those slaps on the backs.

Dinners and cafes

Diners and the late night fries

We dip and pass on

We dip and pass on. 

 

 

I hear America whining

Wanting more, hating more

Falling to the floor

The subway stops

All turn in concern

Alive or dead

Will I make it or will the train return

 

 

I see America brutal

Really really brutal

To outsiders

To neighbors

To strangers and friends

Let׳s not pretend

 

 

I see America crashing

Traffic jams and cancellations

Networks exploded and brains imploding. 

Scream from the hilltops

Cry

Beneath the covers

Weep for the little ones

Destroyed 

Not yet made

The future to come. 

 

 

I taste America sweet

The sweetness of a glimpsed morning yawn and a smile back

The quiet happiness as that folk music of ours hits the right chord

In all of us

And we reflect

  Humbly

   Longingly

    Knowingly 

That 

We have a short short time

So let's be sweet

With our apples and our honey

And our trees and our bees 

Because 

we 

   only 

      have  

         a short time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I see America expansive

I see it contracting. 

I see America unsure

I see it certain

I see America contrasting

I see it together

I see America building

Up into the sky

I see America tearing

And building again

Up into the sky

A 

  little 

    higher 

 

 

I see America lost

The man on the street asking for money

The passersby pass by

From one to another one

Why are they here, we ask.

We stop asking

We stopped asking.

The least of us

Elijah

The least of us.

 

 

I see America found

We help

We hand out

We come to rescue

We are contradictions

Kind and savage

Brutal and sweet

What will tip the balance?

     The secret treasure we must find. 

 

 

I see America shining

The seas rising and overflowing

Abundant fish gone prairies dry

Deny deny deny

Resurgent we will be

They shout

Enduring and leading

They promise

Elect the elect

Bridges crumble

20 percent obese

20 percent depressed

20 percent poor

At least 80 percent ok?

Or

None escape 

   There are none righteous 

     we are all

Lost from sea to shining sea.

We shall be cleansed by the rising seas. 

You'll  See. 

 

 

I see America growing

I see America tall

We must continue sowing

We must stop the fall

 

I see America trying

To be what it should be

I see America crying

For all the misery

 

Mighty nations have risen 

And left little trace

Greed and hatred, derision 

We must act with so much grace

 

The tides they keep on coming

To our far away shores

Our feet will keep on running

Up and up to open doors

 

 

 

I see America lifting 

I hear the groaning 

The raising of

The bar over the head 

The curling of the arms

Extending the chest

Pressing the leg press.

The edifices go up

Out and wide.

The land reclaimed

The muscles expand

Trying

  Failing

   Rising

    Falling

Lay the concrete

Lay the cables 

Remove the wires.

Exist without the concrete

Erase the borders

Enter the living rooms

Of all

Connected: always on, networked

Disconnected: alone

Which are we?

Cannot we decide? 

 

 

I see America grazing

The cattle and the farms

The concepts and ideas

News flashes tweets and jams

We seek to sustain all through the day

Sipping: slowly, longingly, continually, apathetically, incandescently

Silly

We must plant in order to harvest

We must sow in order to grow

 

 

 

I see America grinding

Teeth 

    coffee 

       and thought

We sip we gurgle we pour

Our ideas flow into the rivers

Into tributaries

Tribute

Our commodities sent

Brought back

Owned and leased

Borrowed 

We are all borrowers

 

 

I see America minding

Finding and binding

Books and sheaves

Leaves gathered

Turned 

And composted

Composed

And emoted

Work hard

  Says the laborer

Work harder 

  Says the boss

We are all bosses

We are all workers

We work harder for more

We work harder for less

Which is which,

we ask.

 

 

 

I see America resurgent

Once again and again

We always count on this, don't we?

We are still young, aren't we?

Empire: not

Democracy can last

We regenerate, we hope.

We won't, we fear.

 

 

I see America looking

For peace meaning happiness 

Moving on

Or staying still

I see the world looking

Wondering if we have found it

Have you?

Judging we have not

Jealous anxious angry

At hypocrisy mimicry futility

Find it. Fund it. Found it Find it.  

 

 

I see America blind

No.  I too, don't see. 

In a fog our lives 

And then: poof….

It is five no ten no twenty no more 

Years, years and it is past

  it is over

    it is passed

     it begins anew

Awake we say

Sleep in late we may

Awake today

For it is almost

Tomorrow, here. 

Sleep in and enjoy. 

 

 

I see America so damn righteous and self righteous

Come off of it you bastards

What you did to the Africans and the People here before. 

We seek amends

We pretend Amens

We restitute, we say, we forget.  Move on and forget.

 

 

I see America: As it is, as it was and as it will be

I cannot see America

For I am not America

I am small and insignificant

It is great and expansive.

I am one with one very small vote

Not one of the great ones

The contributors, the famous, the dollared. 

I am regular, or less, dilated

But this, too … is America

It really is

 

 

I see America golden. 

From the sunset on the California beach and the rocky Oregon shore.

The sum shines through all our mountains north south east and west 

Spring's warmth expounding.

Beach goers and budding flowers alike

Their sounds go up 

And up

And up. 

 

 

I see America selling

Business it’s all business.

The businessman and the curator

And the doctor and the scribe

Even the thinker

Sell sell sell.

Market and Exchange. 

Earn and Accrete.

Buy more, want more, be more.

Cast your pearls, and see how much you can get…

 

 

I see America sexing

Moaning groaning

Fellating relating

Avoiding voiding

Connecting and reconnecting

The hookup and the stay

A generation comes

And a new generation does as well

 

 

 

I see America hanging:

 

In the kitchen at the table

One guy on the phone

Another making a rum and coke

Awaiting his green card

New stories of old acquaintances 

Business calls interrupt

Deals in China, lawyers, 

So and so back together with his ex

For real or for logistics- who knows

Now that the recession is over...

 

In the bar

They sit nodding at each other

Voices grow louder as the

familiarity is poured

Old strangers

New friends

Bonding over the screens overhead

The banging of their teams

Running shooting scoring

A blast goes up as victory is assured

Backslapping we unite

 

We are hanging

By a thread. 

 

 

I smell America hungry

The rich in their gourmets

Those who do not realize they are rich

And the poor.

Happy for a meal, any meal.

 

 

I hear America playing

At the movies, yearning

At the beach, dissolving 

At the museum, absorbing

At the Ballpark, being absorbed

Walking the course, shuffling on the court, rolling down the lane

 

 

I hear America praying

To the God here and the God there

Mega and minor, in quiet alleys

And in the impossible

Together all united and alone

Your god not mine, mine not yours

All together now, raise our voice on high

Let’s try once, all at once and see what happens…

 

 

I see America and I see the world

The narrowness of our eyes

The vastness of its possibilities

Our silliness and

It's detritus

The evil you see in us

 Is the human condition

The restrictiveness you see in us

 Is yours as well

We revolve on the same planet

A little ahead of you

A little behind

Or at the same time. 

We revolve and we resolve

 

 

I see US depressed. 

A nation full of one out of ten or so

Sinking low. Others trying to pull out

If your neighbors Ox falls into a pit

You must help him out

The Ox cannot be herded if it cannot stand up

We rely on hardened powders to heal. Better than not. Better than not

Add sun, please, and run some, please

And eat and breathe cajole from the earth

It should help it will help

But for some for many for more than one even for one

It does not help

Sad. This is very sad.  Sadness. Sad. 

 

 

I see America ecstatic

Shouts from the back

The choir bouncing

Dancers upending

And joyous dopamine flows

Coats and washes

Greys turn into lights

Colors colors colors. 

 

 

 

 

I see America poeming

Lyrics free in centers of paintings 

Wording burning

Contorting colluding

Till expanses of

   Verbs

     Adjectives

      Nouns and sounds

Come blowing in the wind

And

Float on the shores

And

Course through the days and nights of our lives. 

Our lives: a poem

Our life: a poem

Life: a poem.