United We Do Not Stand

I'm flawed and I know it.
I'm fucked and I'm aware.
Oh America, you feign perfection
Feign self-confidence, but never
have I met an American
void of personal insecurities.
I can do it! we say.
I'm afraid I can't
do it. Individualism demands
your cooperation. Only you, alone.

United we stand?
All I see are cubicals of people, one
getting ahead of the other
In a race of the fittest.
America, you demand perfection,
You demand self reliance.
In me I trust, America.

I fear failure.
I fear flaws.
Society of Pharisees, and to be
an honest fool is too embarrassing
for you America. Public life is perfect
Homes are war zones.
I feel nuclear energy seeping
from these masks, these edited photos
of white-washed individuals.
I fear one day it'll explode, our cover blown
and we'll be seen as who we are-
naked, poor, blind, wretched, alone.

I'll just say it to your face America
Before this gets out of hand.
Fuck this unattainable perfection.
I can't do it. Not on my own.
A wise individual once said, "Relax,
be natural, be flawed." For,
In God we trust.


*This was inspired particularly by a conversation my sister Karolina and I shared. She is that "wise individual".*