a rock sat atop a ledge

on the side of the road,

its home.

sometimes people would

kick it around

on their daily runs

to who knows where,

a frivolous action according to

the little rock.

Pledge your life to liberty and justice,

raise your hand and take an oath to serve and protect,

who are you protecting though?

I watch the news and see agents hurting the innocent,

children,

-- free would,

& all the spiraling connotations that come

in the afterthoughts of it, the explanations,

the tin bucket full of pieces with bark still on

for no one wants something they could've had. 

I do not pledge allegiance to the Disunited States of America.

And to the republic for which it stood, under atoms,

With liberty and justice for WHITE STRAIGHT CIS MEN.

We are told this is a free country ... 

But that's until someone speaks their mind 

That's until someone points out someone's differences 

The chemicals

They fill 

Blackening lungs

Cameras out

They capture

loud shots

Man down

Gas thrown 

Child gone

And while

people fall

Weren’t we supposed to be

Different?

Didn’t we fight wars

Didn’t we sign papers,

Promising we were something?

Something

New?

But papers are just ink

And quills

i really don't get prejudice

i mean just the concept of it

how could you hate someone borne

by the same earth, the same fire

how could you explain someone else's life

as being worth less air than your own

The United States of America

as seen on the binding documents, on formal things

USA

as said by random people you know

The US

as told by your parents

America

Red

White

And Blue

The colors of America

We parade down the streets

Covered in these colors

I wonder what our parade will look like

This year

Will we parade with joy

Celebrate tragedies

This is not a political poem

It can’t be

Because I need hope

And I cannot find hope in such a divided world

I mean, look at us

Left versus right

We read poems on printed white sheets in english class

Color them with highlights

And words like freedom

Are covered in pink.

And a hundred years ago