Growing Up In America

as a child
I thrilled to the
railroad trains
riding out of the badlands
not knowing they were owned
by robber barons
I watched the calvary charge
the Indian villages
like Attila the Hun
believing Custer a hero
and Sitting Bull a savage
not taught in school about the
deadly smallpox plague
diseased blankets traded
Indians for title to their land
a deadly plan to murder
an entire nation

generations of ripped-off cultures
gather in the museum of history
dolphins die in tuna fishermen's nets
while pelican eggs refuse to hatch
victim of man's greed and waste
as the blistered hands of faceless
migrant workers reach out for recognition
only to find death in pesticide laced food
the tools of revolution
laid aside rusting from affluence
and false security

the dreams of thousands
of brave warriors lay buried
in unmarked graves
no historical monument
will make mention of them
their children buried
in graves so small
their parents wear them
in their hearts
like an anchor weighed
to the soul