For, oh for—

"There are no kings in America./ Only gilded men we can topple/ again and again." --Aileen Cassinetto

Screenshot from whitehouse.gov on 1/26/2025.

I wrote this poem in January of this year, and of course things have only gotten worse since then.

The full text of Aileen Cassinetto’s beautiful poem can be found here.

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I watched “Pollyanna” over and over as a child.
At one point, Pollyanna is part of the flag for a festival
and they sing “America the Beautiful.” 
Hayley Mills’ voice is high and round 
at the same time, her still childish face
glowing in the light.

Oh beautiful for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain—

I’ve never been what anyone would call “patriotic."
Glad for my freedoms, ignorant deep into adulthood
about how they came to me. 

As I got older, I started to feel shame. 
Didn’t want to dress my children in red and blue
for the Fourth of July.
Didn’t want a flag anywhere near our home.

But now that everything I know to be right
is being taken away, unavailable on the website
where the White House gleams at the top
I want to ask those who voted for this wickedness: 
why do you think this 
is freedom?