I used to love America.

She was expansive, she was bold, she was great.

The mythology, the lore didn’t hide her faults.
Like all gods, she had stumbled and fallen.
Numerous were her vicious sins,
but many were her stellar victories.
She was scrappy; an ambitious overcomer.
In my naivety, I saw her as a beacon
of what could be good in the world.
As she and I advanced in years,
I hoped for her continued growth in generosity
and I prayed for wise leadership
in her pursuit of peace.

Yet, gradually I noticed a prevailing issue—
America is a construct
of the lofty ideas of failed humans.

“In God we trust.”
her people say with a false smile
faintly disguising ulterior motives
and menacing advances.
The deceit was overtly draped
in Stars and Stripes;
curious icons for a nation
now characterized by its disunion.

We hoped that the establishment
of the land of the free
and the home of the brave
would be enough.
We didn’t think we would have to
work the land
or take care of the home.
In a country built almost completely
by ambitious immigrants
we constructed barriers
to their future success.
In “god” we trusted.
We the people are that god.

America failed us.
She knew she would.
Our crimson blood continues to overflow
through bullet holes
as the talk of the town
centers on the spectrum of whiteness
in one’s skin.
History has repeated itself
‘til blue in the face.
The colors that were meant to embrace
bravery, innocence and justice
do little more
than divide us across aisles
and make us squirm in our seats.

So, what now?
What do you do with a country
that inflated itself so much
the balloon popped
into one thousand depressing pieces?
What do you do with a country
that stretched itself so thin
the rubber band of empathy snapped?
What do you do with a country
that doesn’t know how to get better,
it only knows who to blame for its sickness?

We can’t look back at history,
there are too many accusing fingers
pointing right back at us.
We can’t use our resources now
because we can’t agree to whom they belong.
We can only look forward
and pray for an authentic spirit of unity.

In God I trust. May He heal the heart of America.

Written in February 2023. Originally published in Objects Things Stuff—Messy Bits We Carry Around (Dark Thirty Poetry Publishing, 2025)

SDG