I Was Just Wondering
I see all these people
shouting with hate,
and I was just wondering,
now are we great?
We’ve demonized immigrants,
locked children in crates,
and I was just wondering,
now are we great?
We declared a religion
we won’t tolerate,
and I was just wondering,
now are we great?
We attacked your rights
because you aren’t straight,
and I was just wondering,
now are we great?
Hate crimes have climbed
at an alarming rate,
and I was just wondering,
now are we great?
Too many students
keep losing classmates,
and I was just wondering,
now are we great?
We ignore the homeless,
but the rich celebrate,
and I was just wondering,
now are we great?
Women’s rights to
their bodies evaporate,
and I was just wondering,
now are we great?
We consider protestors
enemies of the state,
turning weapons
on those who demonstrate,
using tear gas to ensure
equality cannot fumigate
and I was just wondering,
now are we great?
Not just great, but great again
and that has me wondering,
When?
The time of tribal extinction
or when we shackled our slaves?
When women couldn’t vote?
Oh those were the days
When we hid in our closets
from genuine fear?
When we were locked in prison
for just being queer?
When American citizens
of Japanese descent
were held indefinitely
in internment?
When we granted rights
based on the color of skin?
When “Segregation forever”
our governors grinned?
When Nazis marched
openly out in the street?
Something I never
thought we’d repeat
Is it greatness now
and greatness then
that our government kills
with a fountain pen?
Is this greatness we see
as we look all over?
I guess greatness is in
the eye of the beholder
Written June 25, 2019 (two stanzas added June 2020)