I wrote this piece some time ago, processing the disappointment and frustration I felt/feel with my country of origin. Don’t get me wrong I love my country, but love and like are two very different things.  And the beauty in living in the land of the free and the brave is that I am free to voice my opinion but only if I am brave enough to withstand the verbal artilery from the “other side.”

I have never been a fan of elephants and donkeys. I would rather pet a dog. And red and blue are honestly two of my least favorite colors, I much prefer neutrals. But in this heightened political climate, where every one is an expert and the person that wins is not the one that is right but the one that is loud, there is no neutral.

So, today on America’s 241st Birthday, I am declaring my independence from societal norms. Because love, and peace, and justice are no longer “normal.”  Division and exclusion are foul words and a language I do not want to speak. Today I will hold a hotdog and not a picket sign. It’s true, we have not always done things well. Our history at times as a nation has been mired by violence and hatred, and possession of what wasn’t ours.

But what is ours is the hopeful but all too unfamiliar possibility that this can be a nation with liberty and justice for all, not just some.

May I remind you, it is US that makes the USA.

American Dreamer

American dreaming has gotten me no closer to

Antiquated fantasies of white picket fences.

Dollars signs and extra zeros got me fixed

On what’s incoming….

More costly, worth-less.

Walls built by brick and mortar are not what keep us divided.

No matter the color of the card in your pocket,

You still bleed red…

And so do i.

American dreamer…

Privilege should not solely be possessed by those who live in white house(s)

Love doesn’t know it’s right from its left.

The fact is love knows no alternative.

Don’t wake me up,

Cause where i dream, hope is not just a mirage.

it is woven in the street corner conversations and

stoop sitting whispers of a desire for more.

It’s the thread that ties me to those whose reflections in mirrors will never match mine.  

American dreamer…

Make room in your heart for the tired and poor,

Send these huddled masses yearning.

Hope is the light in my lamp lifted beside once golden doors.

Let freedom wring… your American dream.