America is burning.

It’s slow.

Slow like when you ask,

“Sir,

I’m real sorry,

But could you please put out your

Cigarette?”

You know that moment I’m talking about.

That moment when that smoker

Slowly lowers their

Cancer stick

From between chapped lips

With an angry,

‘Fuck you too, kid,’

In their eyes.

 

America is burning

Like the bodies of the millions of

Native Americans,

African Slaves,

Mexican Soldiers,

Upon which America is built.

And we all know

The first rule of a Ouija board is

Never play in a graveyard.

Well we built churches

On top of graveyards

And told everyone it was okay

To talk to spirits and ghosts…

Never mind that we’ve been playing these games

On top of graveyards

And talking to the dead.

 

America is burning,

And you know what?

I noticed that they lied when they said

Once you go black,

You never go back.

Well now my gay ass is gonna have to move.

They lied when they said

Land of the free,

Home of the brave,

Yeah, right.

Free as long as you can

Pay your way through the

Toll bridges and checkpoints,

Provide proof of insurance at the gate.

Brave as long as you have

Trust-fund money in the bank,

Hundred dollar bills and border walls to hide behind,

Upper-class status to protect you.

Where now is home

For the hundreds

Of thousands

Of refugees?

Where now is their freedom from

Starvation

Oppression

War?

 

America is burning.

Her blaze is sweeping over

This nation,

Flames growing ever higher as they

Crawl over

Everything.

And so I’m trying to outrun those flames,

Dive into the ocean,

Drown myself in

America’s tears…

Before I too catch fire

And burn with her.