The Land of the Free

THE LAND OF THE FREE

 America,

            Says our national anthem,

                        Is "the land of the free."

So far as I can see

            America is

A conquered province,

            An occupied country,

                        An internment camp.

Schools and universities,

            Museums, cultural centers,

                        And websites

                                    Have been conquered

            And cleansed of "unpatriotic" views.

Troops occupy our Capitol.

            Masked men grab people

                        Off the streets

                                    And intern them

                        In Gator Gulags.

Visitors applying for visas

            To visit the land of the free

                        Are scrutinized

            For their "un-American attitudes."

What is "un-American" in

            A conquered province,

                        An occupied country,

                                    An internment camp?

To remember that

            America was once

                        The land of the free?

The Air of Freedom

 THE AIR OF FREEDOM

      (For Jan Sownie)

To the shackled prisoner,

            Immured without hope,

Incarcerated

            In the darkest prison,

                        Gulag,

                                    Hellhole imaginable,

Entombed

            In the castle's deepest oubliette,

Condemned

            To breathe

                        The foul stench of captivity,

The fresh air of freedom,

            Come at last,

                        After so long,

                                    So unexpectedly,

Is so crisp

            You could

                        Take a bite out of it.

Los Tres Amigos

 LOS TRES AMIGOS

Two Mexican men in the shady park

Drinking cervesas.

"Hey, caballero," one shouts to me

As I walk past. "Where's your horse?"

            **********

It's because of my hat.

More archaeologist on a dig

Than Clint Eastwood, but close enough.

"Back at the hacienda," I reply.

            **********

They laugh.

"Hey, caballero, come sit."

The day is hot and sweaty. I'm tired.

So I sit.

            **********

"You want a cervesa?"

They're drinking beer

Out of soda bottles with the tops sliced off,

Then filled with Dos Equis.

            **********

"No, gracias, amigo," I say.

"Here," the other one says,

Pulling a bottle of 100% apple juice

Out of an ice chest.

            **********

So cold I sip ice splinters

When I open it. "Gracias," I say.

We sit. We drink. We talk in the shade.

Los tres amigos.

E Pluribus Unum

 E PLURIBUS UNUM

The phrase is on every coin

In every purse and pocket:

            "E Pluribus Unum."

It's Latin, so, of course,

            Few know what it means.

Fewer care what it means.

            "Out of many, one."

Out of an original diversity,

            America will become one.

It's aspirational because

            America has always

                        Hated diversity.

From the beginning

            We were 13 separate and

            Diverse colonies

Who distrusted,

            Even hated,

                        Those strange foreigners

            In those other colonies.

But the founders

            (At least some)

Said it didn't matter if you lived in

            Virginia or Massachusetts,

                        Georgia or New York,

We were all Americans.

            We were a diverse many,

                        But we could become one.

            E Pluribus Unum.

It was something,

            At least,

                        We should aspire to.

Many others,

            Perhaps most others,

                        Didn't aspire to become one.

From the beginning we hated immigrants.

            We hated the Irish Catholics.

            We hated the Polish Catholics.

            We hated the Italian Catholics.

And we hated those Russian Jews

            Who couldn't even speak English.

And we hated each other.

            South against North,

                        Dixie against Damn Yankees,

                                    Stars and Bars against

                        Stars and Stripes.

And we still hate each other.

            It's still South against North,

                        West against East,

            Heartland against the Coasts.

                        We still hate the "woke"

            And aspire only to own the libs.

                        But most of all

                                    We hate immigrants.

But E Pluribus Unum

            Was also a reality,

                        Because America is the Borg.

From the beginning America has always said,

            "You will be assimilated."

                        And immigrants have always

                                    Been assimilated.

Not so much first gen,

            But more so second gen,

                        Certainly third gen.

By third gen the grandkids

            Think they are Americans

                        And can't even speak

                                    Their mother tongue,

Even though they still like their

            Nana's Old Country food.

They have been assimilated.

            They will always be assimilated.

                        Because we are the Borg.

More Dangerous

MORE DANGEROUS

The crime in the suites

            Is far more dangerous than

The crime in the streets.

Whither Antifa?

 WHITHER ANTIFA?

Whither Antifa?

            Attacked the Capitol, right?

                        Where did it vanish?

Climate Change Hoaxes

 CLIMATE CHANGE HOAXES

They say glaciers are melting

And Greenland is losing its ice cap,

            But that's a Democrat hoax.

                        **********

They say we're having more floods and fires

And extended droughts,

            But that's fake news.

                        **********

They say we're having more tornados

And hurricanes, and they're more intense,

            But that's Deep State lies.

                        **********

They say temperatures are rising,

Along with the oceans,

            But that's the Radical Lunatic Left

                        Trying to scare us.

                        **********

They say the climate is changing,

And the North Pole is now ice free,

            But don't you believe it.

                        Have you seen it?

                        **********

But if there's no more ice

Up at the North Pole,

We'll be able to sail from New York

To Tokyo up over Canada.

            That's faster than

                        The Panama Canal.

Think of the money we'll save!