Poetry Thursday

I first read Ginsberg's America during the summer that divided middle school from high school. Over the years I have come to understand and relate to some lines more than others. When I returned from Japan, this poem resonated with accuracy. I have intermingled some of the more poignant lines with excerpts from my journal that I wrote on the day I returned to the States.

(America I've given you all and now I'm nothing.)
I was bumped to business class where they keep Swiss chocolates ready
Everyone else was comfortable and reclined
(I can't stand my own mind)
Beneath me mountains fell into the sea
(America when will we end the human war?
Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb.
I don't feel good don't bother me.
I won't write my poem till I'm in my right mind.)
When we reached Detroit, Japan was nowhere to be seen
It had been replaced by flat squares devoid of life
This was America'’s heartland; I had no trouble getting back in
(America when will you be angelic?
When will you take off your clothes?
When will you look at yourself through the grave?)
I was surprised to find myself holding an American passport
I didn'’t have to be fingerprinted or yelled at
I wasn'’t a foreigner anymore
(America why are your libraries full of tears?
America when will you send your eggs to India?
I'm sick of your insane demands.
When can I go into the supermarket and buy what I
need with my good looks?
America after all it is you and I who are perfect not
the next world.)
There were so many blond people but even more people were obscenely large
with calves that covered their ankles and shorts that revealed everything
I didn'’t want to see
They didn'’t seem to mind
(Your machinery is too much for me.
You made me want to be a saint.)
The day that I came back Korea tested another missile so of course
Bush had something to say
He always has nothing to say
It made me think of a line from Homer Simpson
"“You take a lot of time to say nothing"
I laughed out loud and everyone looked at me
There is nothing funny about the news
(It's always telling me about responsibility. Business-
men are serious. Movie producers are serious.
Everybody's serious but me. )
No one looks at me, I am just like them now
(America the plum blossoms are falling.)
Everyone is blond and is headed to Disney World
(It occurs to me that I am America.
I am talking to myself again.)