Patriotic

What does it
mean to
love

your country?

Are you supposed to be
willing to die

to protect it?

Because I'm not.

Are you supposed to 
use your flag
to wave fear in forgotten people's

faces?

Because I don't want to do that.

Are you supposed
to celebrate independence 
and ignore the way 
European ancestors
stole land away from

its first inhabitants?

Do you have to love
your president 
as a role model,
as a leader,
as the face of your country? 

Because I don't.

I was born here.
I live here.
But I wonder
how long do you have to wait before
a place feels like home?

I've been built up
from the ashes
of my ancestors
and the dreams of my descendants,
but some days
I still hesitate to wrap myself in stars 
and stripes
and claim it as my own

because I
don't want
to be covered in hate.