Tribute to Ginsberg

Since I've started this blog, I've focused on the artistic endeavors of others and have not displayed any of my own. So today I've decided to post a poem of mine. It was inspired by a particular poem by Allen Ginsberg [hence the title] called America written in 1956.

TRIBUTE TO GINSBERG

America:

No one walks your streets
Except for bums
Begging for something to eat.

America

I’m tired
I’m weeping
I have your dream stuck in my mind,

Was it just a lie?

Sweet nothings
To lure me into
Your one nightstand
Then good-bye?

America

I miss Walt Whitman, John Coltrane and James Dean.

America

Who am I to believe? What am I suppose to be?

You replaced God and Jesus with Disney and reality TV.

America

It’s passing me by:

Another
9 to 5 train ride
Another
Bum holding up a sign
Another
Wal-Mart and radioactive French fry,

And always the same repeat:

Commerce, concrete, and Hollywood telling me I’m not skinny enough to eat.

America

Who am I to believe? What am I suppose to be?

I don’t understand. Yesterday, a water bottle that had no fat or calories advertised.

America

Your epic poem
Begins with a soldier
Leaving at 18 and never again seeing home.

America

I don’t need guns to incite a war:

I often sleep until noon, I drink too much and too soon, I can’t stand Jerry Springer, I refuse to eat taco bell for dinner, I sign petitions to ensure the Amazon won’t get thinner, I read books so my mind will remain limber.

America

Who am I to believe? What am I suppose to be?

I miss Walt Whitman, John Coltrane and James Dean.

America

Another
9 to 5 train ride
Another
Bum holding up a sign
Another
Wal-Mart and radioactive French fry,

And always the same repeat:

God, Jesus, and reality TV.

America

Blame it on the breakdown of family values. Blame it on AIDS. Blame it on the Gays. Blame it on my ‘unpatrotic ways’. Blame on the Middle East. Blame it on a lack of religion. Blame it on too much religion.

America

I’m tired of your drive-thru TV dinners.

America

Don’t even get me started on health care.

America

The war hasn’t been won yet?

America

The world wasn’t ready for you
Hitler wasn’t ready
Kennedy wasn’t ready
John Lennon wasn’t ready
I’m not ready
Are you ready America?

Are you ready for you?