America First (a poem)
This America has always been, as you may have guessed, about conquest.
This America has always been, as you may have guessed, about conquest.
I have been thinking, a lot, the last two days—about who I want to be in this moment.
i am the words i speak, i’m the things i do, i’m not how i look, or the things i accrue. you try to define me with the simplest of words but i’m far beyond that, though you think it absurd.
I awaken again, to the alarm bell ringing, hit snooze just one more time. Then close my eyes, let go once more, giving in to sleep sublime.
The sky is still blue, yet my happiness wanes. Under the weight of words, the melody strains.
It’s winter again, it’s snowing outside, and my soul is as dry as my hands. A frozen wasteland, no less of a desert. My heart is parched like the sands.
I hope you will join me in this act of solidarity as I stand up for those who are being forced to assimilate with a societal construct that does not fit them or reflect their lived experience.
(377 words)
Liberty is having agency over one’s own destiny and decisions. Liberty cannot truly exist without the ability to govern what happens to and with one’s own body.
(2,739 words)
© 2009-2025 E.L. Redwine