Weekend Challenge Showdown

Enjoy the 2 Top Reader Picks + 1 Honorable Mention.

The challenge was to write a poem, or a short story of 100 words, about the U.S.A.

Based on what our reader likes, meet the two poems written by Margaret D. Stetz and Ime Eshiet. To handle the tiebreakers, I sorted them in Chronological order, and the first post with the same number of likes won. Enjoy these two fun writes.


Independence by Margaret D. Stetz

The history I learned
began in
bursts of gunfire
a blunderbuss
then musket
that obliterated
tomahawks
the volleys
sending British cannons fleeing
ships flaming at Fort Sumter
pistols, rifles sailing
Over There
a cloud of vapor
at Hiroshima
napalm burning villages
our peace and freedom
measured in artillery,
explosions.
My childhood toys
were cap guns
and every Fourth
the cherry
bombs
that pitted
gardens, sidewalks
whistling rockets
in the night sky
gave me cover
as I crept into
my parents’ bedroom
sliding the drawer
where lay a dark
revolver
that I raised
in tiny
shaking hands—
my Independence Day?

America of Our Dream by Ime Eshiet

Is this the America of our dream?
George Wash'n cannot believe his eyes
When the father's took the vote
And the queenly crown struggled to assuage his diarrhea.
What we see now is not our plan
Not again shall we be shackled by another man.
See John Adams and the two James, Madison and Munroe recoil
Even Benjamin Franklin is shaking his whiskers in fear
That America is fast declining and doomed.
Fourth or Second of July doesn't matter
We shall build the America of our dreams
Where fearless love and liberty presides.
Strength!
Courage!
Godly fear!
Shall be restored
Yet no man shall make America afraid.

Honorable Mention

A “surprise mind” style poem by Moe Phillips

Ticker tape jammed
With cracker crumbs
Headlines roar
Red, white, and blue
Peach flavored crayons
Scribble answers
For anyone left who can read
Uncle Sam is on the lam
On a midnight run to Palookaville
Lady Liberty, a carnival barker
Selling half-price tickets on the midway
The check is NOT in the mail
School bells replaced by smoking guns
Pickup trucks circle like wagons,
On tornado blasted meadows
Drag queens painted with vampire blood
Parade across freedom’s stage
The mob rushes in to tear down
The false gods who’ve arrived
Under foreign flags.
Home of the brave has moved.

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