America's Patchwork

This poem was written in response to the Rattle® Poetry Ekphrastic Challenge for April 2023 and was ultimately not selected. You can find more information here.

https://www.rattle.com/ekphrastic/

The image that this poem was specifically written about can be found here. (April 2023 – Lou Storey’s “All of Us”)

https://i0.wp.com/www.rattle.com/ekphrasis/EC23Apr.jpg?ssl=1

America's Patchwork

America, oh beautiful

Come lay your patchwork upon me

Cities stretch their steel fingers

Smoke tendrils to the spacious sky

Factories hum and farms grow

Homes with picket fence awake

Power lines link people

Huddled masses planted

Over all the rolling land

An eclectic mix of faces

A cacophony of tongues

Rises to meet the morning sun

Breaking to fields of grain

Forests and mountains of majesty

Snow-tossed tundra to deserted desert

Oil pump jack and grain silo

The heartland beats

While trains on arteries and veins

Cars and tugboats traverse

Rivers of pavement and water

Lighthouses on rocky shores

Guide comings and goings of ports

From mossy mother to golden gates

The price of the blessings of liberty

Cemeteries of weeping widows

Marble slabs in row upon row

Lives lost for freedom found

Self-evident unalienable rights

And the pursuit of happiness

Passed on to posterity

Carnivals and playgrounds

Of laughing children

Clambering for a better world

A steady march to equality

For all those that come to the shore

Bringing with them their stories

Contributions woven into the fabric

That already breathes across the land

People from distant terra

Yearning for opportunities and dreams

The Lady of New Hope smiles

Arms outstretched, she softly speaks

“America, oh beautiful”

“Come lay your patchwork upon me.”

Submitted under MRB