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America Is Not the Same

America is not the same.
__I do not recognize it.
We all know who should bear the blame,
__But still we analyze it.

The teachers’ unions and the press
_  All share part of the shame.
Our legal system is a mess
__That functions as if lame.

Our patriots get no respect,
__While criminals are coddled.
The DOJ is now suspect
__But will not be remodeled.

While drug addiction’s legalized,
__Shop lifters get off free,
The Stars and Stripes are now despised
__And athletes take a knee.

Immigration is a mess
__With no real southern border.
The Bidens never will confess
__They want a one world order.

So, tax and spend is all we do
__As high inflation rages,
And women’s sports are all askew
__But still acclaimed by sages.

Big Tech and Pharma still decide
__How things are meant to go,
While academics still deride
__The truths we can’t forego.

What happened to the land I knew
__And truly loved so much?
Democracy’s no longer new
__And seeming out of touch.

I know it’s true that all things change,
__But still I can’t believe it.
America now seems so strange.
__I never could conceive it.

We were one nation under God
__With liberty for all;
But now that notion seems so odd,
__A prelude to a fall.

Oh, beautiful for spacious skies
__Return to us once more,
And let us see through clearer eyes
__As we have done before.

.

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Richard Lackman is an orthopaedic cancer surgeon and poet.

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11 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Excellent compendium of problems in classic poetic form that could be solved with a responsible government to the people that must be installed in the 2024 elections for starters.

    Reply
  2. Paul Freeman

    I think the author means that being American, or what is considered American, is not what it used to be, which is basically what the poems’s about, ungrammatically sounding though it may be.

    Reply
  3. Joseph S. Salemi

    Yes, I understand that. But this is why we have to be very careful! The title can be construed as correct the way it stands, as I admitted. However, when the first line of the poem is different, it reflects back upon the title to make “American” seem like a careless error. First and foremost here, we are WORDSMITHS, and we are not supposed to fall into this kind of of petty verbal confusion.

    We always have to be aware of our enemies, and that they are always looking for some way to denigrate this site or ridicule it. Why should we help them by creating a pointless ambiguity? Why should we give them a peg on which to hang the word “amateurish”?

    Let me stick out my neck again: If you are not PRIMARILY concerned with words, syntax, and grammar, you will fall into the trap of the three miseries (meaning, message, and moral). A poem with noble sentiments does not survive slipshod craft.

    Reply
  4. Gregory Ross

    A nice poetic summary of issues we are dealing with, and least anyone become cynical about out state, this poem ends with a hopeful prayer – which I think restores hope in our country and countrymen. I look forward to reading more of your work.

    Reply
  5. Cynthia Erlandson

    Very moving, and very true. I really love the last verse.

    Reply
  6. Dick Lackman

    I wish it was not true, but it is. There are so many good, patriotic Americans just doing the right thing everyday. Hopefully they can move us in a positive direction.

    Reply
  7. Joshua C. Frank

    Like Mr. Lackman, I wish this were not true, but one would have to be truly out of touch not to know that it is. Stanza 8 brought tears to my eyes. For me, Independence Day was sad this year, for all the reasons you describe.

    I’m afraid that the prayer in the final stanza is like praying for the dead to return to life.

    Reply
    • Dick Lackman

      Thanks for the comment. All we can do is pray… and vote.

      Reply
  8. Shaun C. Duncan

    The sentiments you have captured perfectly here resonate well outside of America, but as a foreigner observing from afar it’s been heartbreaking to hear the testimony of patriotic Americans who are coming to terms with the fact that the country they love(d?) has seemingly all but disappeared. However, the structure of the republic is such that I think there is always hope that things can be turned around. As one who lives in Australia, often deemed an outpost of the American empire, I sure hope so for my own country’s sake.

    Reply

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