PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

There have been times while watching life from the different places I have stood…

that I have seen injustices….and have not acted as I should.

Times I knew something wasn’t right but still I stood by silently

Times when I did nothing because those injustices were not done to me.

Times when my silence was complicit…although I never could be blamed…

Times that left me saddened…confused…distressed…regretful and ashamed…

Leading to nights I could not sleep…because in my mind sad thoughts spun

of all the things I should have said…of all the things I should have done.

Perhaps I was surprised…bewildered…afraid…I cannot be exact…

but for whatever reason I lacked the courage to speak up…and the bravery to act.

But now that I am older…hopefully wiser…and more confident…I am inclined…

to speak out when I see injustices…having left that younger me behind.

No longer am I ashamed at my silence, my inability to act…instead…

I am ashamed of our president, our vice president…and the party that they head.

I am not ashamed to call myself an American…for that is who I will always be…

but I am ashamed to be an American in the America they see.

Their vision of America I will never join…in fact I shall publicly decry… 

To their hatred, abuse and indifference…never will I comply…

I will continue to speak out against these injustices…

no longer my feelings will I hide….

I’m not sure what good it will do

but I will sleep a little easier…

knowing I have tried

If you want to see the world the way it is…

not the way some people would like it to be…

stop into a bookstore and check out its diversity. 

There’s drama, horror, art, music, nature and history.

politics, religion, cooking, science, sports and mystery.

Any subject you want to read about…

the world…other people…yourself…

you can find a book about it somewhere on the shelf.

But that’s only half the story of a bookstore’s diversity.

The other half is all the people you are going to see.

From the moment in the morning when we unlock our front door

we see love in all its diversity filling up our store.

We see couples from across this country and 100 other different lands.

A mix of genders, sizes, shapes and colors…together holding hands.

We see families of all kinds in a blend of colors…all beautiful families I might add…

led by a man and woman, one man, one woman

grandparents…two mommies or two dads.

It makes me stop and smile every now and then

as I take a moment to thank the Gods above

for allowing me to be in a place with so diverse a love.

Beautiful, innocent, unrestrained love…

in the bookstore…improving and enhancing our space….

This is the American I love…

the America I wish everyone would embrace.