99% America

America the free, America the brave

America where I am looked down upon for the cadence of my name

America where my people are slaughtered in the streets

America where murderers with a badge walk free

America where the only people allowed to freely exist

Are those who do so under the protection of a racist

America where I live in fear for my life every day

America where who I am limits what I am allowed to say

America where I am not white, I am not a man, I am not straight

America where anything else is met with judgement and hate

America where basic protections were granted with laws

But the trifecta was protected from birth without pause

America where the right to exist is one for which we must fight

America where we have to justify why we deserve life

America where liberty and justice for all comes with an aterisk

*Unless you're not white, not a man, not straight, then that can't be fixed

America where I walk with a blade in my purse

Anticipating the day someone else decides I belong in a hearse

For my race, for my sex, for the people I "choose" to love

For believing that I am equal to man, who prefers to be above

America where I pray to a nation destroyed under God

Where I am determined not to believe it is all a lost cause

America where these words fall upon deaf ears

Because I do not have a voice as a feminist Mexican queer

This poem is about: 
Me
My community
My country
Our world
Poetry Terms Demonstrated: 

Comments

Additional Resources

Get AI Feedback on your poem

Interested in feedback on your poem? Try our AI Feedback tool.
 

 

If You Need Support

If you ever need help or support, we trust CrisisTextline.org for people dealing with depression. Text HOME to 741741