Not My America

I cannot say “Happy 4th of July” this year. In all of my years, I have never felt this unfree or unsafe. Here’s a poem from Brian Bolston.

“America Is A Gun”

England is a cup of tea,
France, a wheel of ripened brie.
Greece, a short, squat olive tree.
America is a gun.

Brazil is football’s land,
Argentina, Maradona’s hand.
Germany, an oompah band.
America is a gun.

Holland is a wooden shoe.
Hungary, a goulash stew.
Australia, a kangaroo.
America is a gun.

Japan is a thermal spring,
Scotland is a highland fling.
Oh, better to be anything,
than America, with a gun.

Brian Bilston