It had been three days since Donald Trump became America’s presidential elect. There’s turmoil, there’s triump. There’s hatred and disrespect. A nation and a campus face irreparable damage.
I found solace in my Creative Writing Fiction class as my professor told us to reflect, no matter the opinion, by channeling Allen Ginsberg. My professor handed out a Ginsberg piece, “America,” which begins
America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing.
The class attempted our own emulation of this distressed poeticism, and here is what I got:
American I’ve grown weary.
America when you caused this binary.
America why have we proliferated this binary?
America I feel trapped and mute.
America I used to be hopeful and open.
I’m trying to look past what separates us.
But I refuse the lack of human decency.
America you are digging your very own grave.
I’d better shovel out before trapped under six feet of cynicism.
It’s true people are mourning and people are triumphant.
America I’m seeing a divide where I should see respect.
Respect. A notion the nation needs to rally around.