Portside

Make America Safe Again

By Philip C Kolin

Washington couldn't sleep in America

Anymore. There are no quiet, peaceful towns

To visit. From the Hudson River to Humbolt Bay

Voices are blazing with John Brown furor

Over who gets into this country

And who gets out.



A hundred years ago, anyone with a dream

Stamped on his/her passport was welcomed

How different now that dreamers are put on a list of aliens,

Exiles, no matter how bravely they sing

God bless America or how proudly they wear

The colors of the flag.



Same thing with fugitives from terror;

They are too often confused

With their bombing jihadists attackers

When all they seek is a safe place

To raise their children and their voices

In thanksgiving for a country

With enough roofs to cover

The wounds they received in getting here.



Too many barbed wire troublemakers

Are trying to wall in a country

That needs to wall them out

And make America safe again

For Washington to sleep in peace.

Philip C. Kolin is the Distinguished Professor of English (Emeritus) at the Univ. of Southern Mississippi where he edited The Southern Quarterly for seven years. He has published more than 40 books including eight collections of poems, most recently Emmett Till in Different States (Third World Press, 2015) and Benedict's Daughter (Wipf and Stock, 2017).