America I would still like to visit you
perhaps even more urgently
– the rough beast slouched
towards Bethlehem now born
– a second coming the world
thought impossible
now come to pass
mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
How long before those Great Lakes
are poisoned by polluters
set free to do their dirty work
and national parks still safe
from the graffiti of the poor
but not from the mineral mining
gutting of once again empowered rich
cost corner-cutting pipelines
fracture and spill their black gold
on sacred reservations and beyond.
To appease his base your President
has pulled your role as policeman
to the world citing the cost
but alongside military might
your soft power saved lives
now already doomed as
vaccinations, retrovirals
and simply food are withdrawn
allies against oppression abandoned
in favour of the oppressors
and that is without the chaos
of world markets disarrayed
the world order disrupted
by a thoughtless
human hand grenade.
We British cannot talk
– we also had a Prime Minister
unelected, full of hubris, who
made leader by her party
with no electoral mandate
fancied herself a disruptor
and lasted less time than a lettuce
but whose damage lives on
– small fry compared to POTUS
whose power, mandated, he claims
has already hurt the whole world
in ways no magic reset can reverse
and in truth, his mandate was
less than half of “We the people…”
his vandals slashing government
to smash the laws that hold them back
from moving money – poor to rich
once more…
The “Land of Opportunity” that
favoured my grandfather’s brother
and many another immigrant
now demonises the souls who
would make their way too
to share the possibilities
of a bright future for their families
even as the undocumented
labour that oils the wheels
of the American economy,
– fentanyl and the war on drugs
a fig leaf to the injustice
of forced repatriation of those
already embedded in America
their dreams and families shattered
by the spurious scourge of
anti-immigrant sentiment
pitting the poor
against the poorer still.
So America I would still like to visit you
but I am not sure you would let me in
with my opinions here on record
– sewn into the worldwide web
where creepy billionaires now
rule the roost and spread the lies
that fooled America’s poor
into electing their nemesis
by inflaming the emotion of their
abandoned sensibilities with
false promises wrapped up in fake news
– how long before you see the truth
and can Americans, as they have before
revolt against the white minority
who would install Gilead
the billionaires bent on plunder
the bigoted descendants of
the slave-owning South.
And if you, the people of America
find your voice and strength again
quell the krisis
reassert the values that had
America support the world order
the rule of law, the equality of man
then perhaps I will yet
get to visit America…
© Andrew Wilson, 2025
This poem was written for the dVerse Poets Pub call for submission for a soon-to-be-published real world anthology of poems to be entitled, provisionally, Krisis: Poetry at the Crossroads. It is also a sequel to a poem I wrote in my writing group back in 2023 “America (I Would Like to Visit You)” which in turn was a response to “America (Superstorm)” by Kathleen Graber. I read the previous poem at the dVerse OLN in July 2023 and I am sharing it for the current OLN #383 which is being hosted by Grace . Since 2023, President Trump has been re-elected for a second term…
A brave write, Andrew, but I’m sure it was Trump and not Bush who has been re-elected for a second term! I’ve been thinking about the effect Trump’s policies will have on nature, so these lines stood out for me:
‘How long before those Great Lakes
are poisoned by polluters
set free to do their dirty work’.
I also found these lines powerful:
‘the world order disrupted
by a thoughtless
human hand grenade’.
and
‘…where creepy billionaires now
rule the roost and spread the lies
that fooled America’s poor
into electing their nemesis’.
The way things are going, I don’t think I will ever visit America again.
Thanks for the catch, Kim, no idea how that happened lol! Congratulations on your health news…
I wouldn’t visit if I didn’t live here.
Ah now, remember Kristin, at least half the people are like you and didn’t vote for Trump…
To me there is nothing more standing out in the MAGA movement is that of Musk, saying that compassion is the great weakness of the west…. Then I see so reason to follow west anymore.
and yes I would like to visit America again….
The speed of Trump’s actions this second time around, are staggering and let’s not forget that he said the election would be the last one – so right minded Americans are going to have to pull something revolutionary out of the bag to restore Democracy to the US. I was reading this morning, that Byline Times, whilst being awarded the best newsstand print are struggling for online subscriptions from X and Facebook so new ways of getting the truth out need to be found – which is why I believe we poets need to do our bit…
Great opening line, Andrew, but your arguments haven’t persuaded me! 🙂 Such a great poem, though. I love gritty truth poems like this. The amount of words that have been banned from use in the US now is unbelievable. You certainly couldn’t write poems freely there. A lot of voices have now been muted because of the crazy right-wing laws.
Sorry Sunra, I am not sure which argumments you mean…
Andrew, where do I go with the emotion bubbling over inside my body, the tears forming at the corners of my eyes, the racing of my heart. Every day I awaken, hesitant to turn on a newscast, fearful of what disaster has befallen us during my sleep. Usually there have been several … not only in America but around the World. Is there any hope?
Your poem has set a high bar for those submitting poems for the dVerse Anthology publication.
It is a masterpiece.
Thank you so much Helen, I am still in awe of Kathleen Graber’s America poems, maybe too, because she is a published poet but then with our anthology, who knows…
We Canadians are not visiting the USA now and in the next 4 years. It is hitting their tourism and our airlines have cancelled some trips to the USA too because of low demand. I mean the USA folks get what they voted for and more, and we just have to ride it out. Thanks for your submission Andrew!
It is hard to know whether to take Trump’s threats to Canada seriously or not. He has been underestimated so often and I read that belittling a country’s history and authentic right to exist independently, is a classic dictator’s prelude to colonisation, as with Putin’s revisionist history of Ukraine (which was a country before Moscow existed). I hope that Trump’s ranting about Canada is just smokescreen for his failing domestic policies, not least because my sister in Nova Scotia is a naturalised Canadian so I have everything crossed for you Grace…
Wordle 1,422 5/6
A poem straight to the heart. I have faith that “We, the people” will not let this despot stand. This disgusting excuse of a human being. Despised by more than he yet knows as the rest of the world only wants America To Go Away. I hope you get to visit America again, and that the next time I visit England, I won’t have to be ashamed to be an American.
You don’t pull your punches Yvonne and I hope the rest of the real Americans will not either – and don’t worry, we Europeans (whatever Brexit says) know a real American when we see one…
You speak the truth, Andrew. I wouldn’t visit the US if I lived elsewhere. The majority of Americans do not support the current regime and did not vote for him. I can’t give up hope that the tide will turn. Perhaps some Republicans, seeing how upset their constituents are, will finally turn against him. There are protests going on all the time now, and a huge one scheduled for June.
The Democrats need to learn how to speak with emotional appeal but truth based, and perhaps to do more to address inequality. We have a Labour government who are now trying to match right wing rhetoric to continue in power but in a very inauthentic way…
An excellent poem Andrew, capturing the zeitgeist for all at peril from the current president. Many Aussies are voluntarily banning travel to the USA for the next few years. It is incredibly difficult for those who voted against him.
Thanks Pauleen, how are you now the April madness is over?
Andrew, in your excellent verse, you have voiced what many of us, residing outside America, feel. Not that our leader is a paragon of virtue. In fact I wouldn’t visit my own country right now if I didn’t live here.
Thank you Punam, it is so hard to bear witness to all these authoritarian figures around the world, upsetting the relatively calm order we thought we enjoyed since the end of WW2 but I think there are two lessons to be learned – firstly, it was say, in Israel, to behave as they are doing, they just needed the excuse and secondly, the man so warped in his personal values as to impose them on the country. So all the years we allowed Israel to get away with smaller, disproportionate actions against the Palestinians were warnings we should not have ignored – if we act on every infringement against humanity as it occurs, dictators will not be emboldened… There are many good people in all the countries now led by despots but now the effort it will take for them to prevail again is immense…
You are welcome, Andrew. I agree, when we ignore infringements on humanity anywhere in the world, we do it at our peril. And we are seeing the results all around us. The problem with the good people everywhere is that the majority remain silent. The time has come for them to be vocal.
You are welcome, Andrew. I agree, when we ignore infringements on humanity anywhere in the world, we do it at our peril. And we are seeing the results all around us. The problem with the good people everywhere is that the majority remain silent. The time has come for them to be vocal.
Yes indeed Punam!!!
Andrew, your voice is heard clearly here. As Bono sang, we are “stuck in a moment and we can’t get out of it.” There is such cognitive dissonance from what I’m reading and learning online and what I see when I step outside my door. The machines of one sort or another are taking over, and who knows where it all will end.
Thanks Li – I know what you mean about that cognitive dissonance – if you step outside and do not experience a hurricane more frequently, merely more erratic weather, if you do not experience being plucked off the street for being an immigrant, or being banned from having the possibility of an abortion, everything just looks normal and these bad things are a long way away… Which is why that careful reading of things on the internet and our poetic (emotion stirring) response to all these things is so important now and always…
Andrew, this is such a powerful poem. To hear you read it on Saturday, brought tears to my eyes. I’ve been researching my genealogy. I come from a long line of immigrants. I think about how they would have been treated if they had arrived in America today.
Thank you so much Colleen, did you take the link back to my original America poem which talks about my Grandad’s brother going to America. I would like to believe that the American people will rise up against its Fascist Dictator and all the other little power-mongers hiding behind him…
Such a strong poem that asks so much we’d like to know. I was heartened to see the people walk the streets for the No Kings…I was with them in spirit, it was wonderful to see people not afraid to make a protest, despite all that is going on from that horrible regime. I hope we see more and him removed soon.