This Land

In other posts, I’ve talked about poems that take years to finish. Today’s poem, “This Land,” is one I started writing in the mid ‘90s but didn’t finish until 2020. Over the decades, it went through many rewrites, none of which I was really happy with until the last one.

“This Land” was always meant as a social critique. But that’s not really why I wanted to share it. As I thought about it this week, I found it interesting from a writer’s perspective.

First of all, between the mid ‘90s and 2020, my beliefs changed several times, and I changed as a person. This meant when I ran across this poem in an old notebook and decided to work on it, the things I cared about had changed. I couldn’t really finish this poem until I came to a more settled worldview.

Second, American society has changed a lot in the past 30 years. Some things in my earlier drafts became less relevant as time passed. That led to other revisions.

Finally, I had to learn some things about writing. Earlier drafts of “This Land” contain more bald statement and less imagery. I realized at one point that my favorite parts of the poem wrapped critique in imagery. Since images are metaphoric, they can compare two things on multiple levels and even be interpreted in multiple ways. As such, they provoke thought in ways that flat statements can’t. This is more poetic and interesting. The lines, “WHERE TRUTH’S A TWIST OF LEMON / AND LIES ARE AN AMUSEMENT PARK” were there from my first draft, and became a guide for how I wanted to write the rest of the poem.

As I read “This Land” today, four years after finishing it, I still notice things I could improve, but many wise writers have said at some point you just have to call it done and move on. I reached that point when I included “This Land” in my first book, The Wind and the Shadows. So, without further ado, here is the poem itself, warts and all 😉

This Land

WHERE FREEDOM’S AN ABORTION PILL
AND TYRANNY A PhD
WHERE MERCY IS A HOMELESS MAN
AND OUTRAGE A CELEBRITY 
WHERE CONSCIENCE IS A CANNIBAL
AND SIN IS AT THE RAINBOW’S END
			(talk is cheap
		      	 up is down
		       	 love is free
		      	 & god is dead)	

WHERE TOLERANCE LEADS A CULT
AND PREJUDICE IS PLAYING DARTS
WHERE TRUTH’S A TWIST OF LEMON
AND LIES ARE AN AMUSEMENT PARK
WHERE EQUITY’S A GUILLOTINE
AND GREED’S ALL-U-CAN-EAT
			(cash is king
			 sex sells
                         herring’s red
                         & faith is treed                               
                         laughter’s canned
		         & life is grand
			 this land was made
			 for you to sue me)