Lexie Arani

One nation under God,

One nation running free.

One nation with capitalism

Materialism

And a warped sense of poverty.

Perhaps we should be the Blind Eagle,

soaring high and unable to take notice

as 400,000 disappear

their bodies

rotting

in village wells.

We say, “Shame on you China,

buying Sudanese oil.”

Maybe we should check our own tags and see who

we’re employing.

Land of the free

of turning the cheek to genocide.

Land of selfish greed

our cell phones and Big Mac’s plastered in our hands.

Land of hypocrisy

Crying at movies with kids with swollen bellies

flies circling

rings stacked

upon their skinny necks.

Land of lies

“Never again,”

as Jews are starved and gassed.

“Never again,”

we murmur reluctantly

as Tutsis are shot and stabbed.

Rape and genocide in Darfur,

But Brangelina hogs the headlines.

A hell without human rights

With only peace keepers

With nothing left to keep.

Maybe if we ignore them

they’ll all just go away.