My Answer to the Walt Whitman Poem

I celebrate myself

Born American at the end of summer of nineteen-seventy

I celebrate myself

Educated in  Canada, knowing being an American

Is to be a dangerous fool with a gun in each hand

I am conned into the selfishness that no one likes

We are not the great experiment or even a good one

We poisoned the air, water and land

Just so, we can drive our pick-ups and SUV’s

Carrying our giant TV’s

So, we can, watch footballs on Sundays

After we pray for another beer

I celebrate myself

For telling, the truth that both the American

And Canadian governments must return

What belong to the indigenous peoples, their languages and ways

And lead the world as a poet without compromise

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