Step back from lies, greed
and corruption if only for
an afternoon in Chicago
for the opening of Obama’s
center on the south side.
Feast your eyes
on an alternate
amerikan reality
where character,
kindness, community,
and truth matter.
Listen to diverse voices
speak of the amerikan promise:
life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.
Hear words and songs
that elevate our country.
No need for a violent spectacle
on the lawn of the people’s
house. No need to reshape
and destroy this nation’s
original sins of slavery
and indigenous genocide.
No need to hide your gender,
skin color or faith.
You are welcome in this place.
Come bring your children to
learn of the struggles for
equality, justice, and freedom.
Join hands with a stranger,
dance in the moonlight,
sing of hope and change,
believe in this country again.
Ron Shapiro, an award-winning teacher, has published over 20 poems in publications including Nova Bards 24 & 25, Virginia Writers Project, The New Verse News, Poetry X Hunger, Minute Musings, Backchannels, Gezer Kibbutz Gallery, All Your Poems, Paper Cranes Literary Magazine, Zest of the Lemon and two chapbooks: Sacred Spaces, Wonderings and Understory, a collection of nature poetry.
