For, oh for—

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

Screenshot from whitehouse.gov on 1/26/2025. Poem first posted here.

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I wrote this poem in January of 2025, and of course things have only gotten worse since then. This is a repost/revision.

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, she is part of the flag for a festival
and they sing “America the Beautiful.” 
Hayley Mills’ voice is high and round, 
her still childish face
glowing in the lantern lights.

Oh beautiful for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain—

I’ve never been what anyone would call “patriotic."
Glad for my freedoms, ignorant 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 stars and stripes
anywhere near our home. So much hate
seemed to come with the colors.

But now that everything I know to be right
has been ripped away, "not found" on the website
where the White House gleams at the top—

I want to ask those of you 
who voted for this wickedness: 
why you think this 
is freedom?