Made In America

Track 1: 313

Dawn rises early in the sky

My back is sore from the flight,

Drive from the A-1 to the city

With thunderous applause

The morning feels hot,

The leather is burning a hole

In my new custom tailored suit

There was something in the air

High above me,

I swear it’s something

Really, there must be something

Turn to my left and look at my wife,

“Everybody loves you!” she says

Except the few that don’t,

“No!”

When the morning was done

They were cleaning me off the doors,

“Who gets the brain?” people ask

“I’ll take the heart!” another says

Three-hundred thirteen

Eleven

Twenty-two

Sixty-three.

Track 2: In the South

There was a town

Down in the South,

Farmlands all around

The small little town

A man comes riding

On his brand new bicycle,

He has his basket

Filled with the best fish around

A couple tomatoes for one

And some milk for the other

That’s how we do business in the South,

No paper required

Down in the South

Was where it started,

Where it ended,

Where it returned.

Track 3: Winter’s Snow

I wake up in the morning

Half past 8 o’clock,

My clock doesn’t read 6

And the white light is blinding

A storm has come

And changed the landscape

Of the world

Around me

Cold froze the grass and

Ice hangs from the shingles,

A frost has coated

The outside of my home

Smell of coffee

And of flow,

All combine

To make a Winter’s snow.

Track 4: Neon Dreams

Color can fill the eyes

Faster than the speed of light,

It is bright

Yet it is dark

The sun sets over the horizon

As the street lights come on,

The skyscrapers flash orange,

And the other buildings blue

The highway is endless

And the roads stretch for miles,

Nights last forever

And the sun shines every day.

Track 5: Bust In

Break down the door

Looking for that score,

Flashlights on

Eyes peeled

Confidential documents in sight,

Open the bag and put them in,

As far as they know

They weren’t even theirs

The papers taken

And the deficit has been settled,

They can’t hide anything

Because we’ve already won

Four more years

In the bag,

Our man is going to win

For sure.

Track 6: Assumptions

We’ve got a guy,

Grey sedan,

He’s driving down the main road

Doing about one-hundred

He hit the breaks

Now he’s on foot,

He’s running,

He’s going for the gas station

He’s got a blue hoodie

And red sweatpants,

We can’t tell who he’s with,

Just assume one of them.

Track 7: Another Reality

Zoning in and out,

Reality is just a dream

And nothing is real,

Every action is predetermined

The step you take tomorrow

Was already planned long ago,

The breath you took yesterday,

Was planned even longer ago

You are on a planet

That is one of billions,

Yet it feels like there are many

Of the same one

What if this is another reality

And there are many like it,

What if we live in

Reality #2611?

Track 8: Finale

I’d like to thank you for coming,

This is the finale of

The show

A collection of

Thought and mind

Have been spilled

On a blank canvas

It stains the pages

With the anomalies of life

And the everyday

Existence of consciousness

Words are words,

But if you can arrange them

They become something else,

That can lead to the finale

This is the finale,

Words have lead you here

And what a journey

It has been.

313: This poem is about the JFK assassination. The title stems from the Zapruder film and the 313th frame of it. The poem starts with JFK arriving in Dallas and ends with his assassination as he watches all of the doctors fight over who gets to do his autopsy. The JFK assassination stands as a strong part of my Creed because it has influenced my grandparents’ and my parents’ decisions and logic, which trickles down to me, even after 50+ years. This event dropped the jaws of every American, and it still resonates today because of the presidents that followed JFK were elected because of JFK’s death, Lyndon B. Johnson directly and every other president indirectly.

In the South: This poem relives the many stories my grandma told me growing up. She told me and continues to tell me about stories from her life in Italy. One story that stands out is when she told me a man would come to her house on a bike, with fresh fish. She said the fish was some of the best she ever had. The name of the poem stems from the fact that she is from Naples, which is in Southern Italy.

Winter’s Snow: This poem is dedicated to all of the fond memories I have of snow days. They were all under different circumstances, yet they all felt strangely the same. It was strange to relive these fond memories, as the hazier they felt in my mind, the better feeling I got.

Neon Dreams: This poem describes a genre of photography/graphic design called Synthwave. The images and visual arts are something of legend to me. This has had a heavy influence on my artistic imagination and even on the cover of the anthology.

Bust In: This poem is about the Watergate Scandal. I thought it would be really fun to try and see what went through the minds of Nixon’s accomplices. This was a pivotal moment in American history, as it showed the public not every president is perfect. Granted, the people knew this after the Vietnam War, however, there was now visible evidence that a president had won the election by dastardly means.

Assumptions: This was my take on implicit bias in the American police force. The story follows an African-American man driving to a gas station to get some gas, and a police officer in pursuit of the man. The African-American man was wearing blue and red, so the police could decide which gang he was in, the Bloods or the Crips. They just said he was a gang member, when they had no evidence of it, just the color of the man’s skin and the color of his clothing. This is what modern American life is like in some places of the country, and there is absolutely no doubt these kinds of events will plague my future and America’s future.

Another Reality: This is basically my “shower thoughts” put in poem form. By shower thoughts, I mean just the random “why do we exist” kind of thoughts. This explores the idea that there are multiple realities and we live in one of infinite. I said the reality number we live in was #2611, which is one of my favorite president’s (Ronald Reagan's) birthday, which is February 6th, 1911.

Finale: This poem marked the end of my anthology. I didn’t feel like just doing another poem at and call it the end, I wanted to make sure the reader knew this was the end. Not only is the title of the poem called “Finale,” but the ending words are meant to give closure to the anthology.

Works Cited

Lennon, John, and Paul McCartney. Across The Universe. 1970. Calderstone

         Productions Limited, 2009. YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=90M60PzmxEE.

---. Maxwell's Silver Hammer. 1969. Calderstone Productions Limited, 2009.

          YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJag19WoAe0. Accessed 30 May 2019.

---. Strawberry Fields Forever. 1967. Calderstone Productions Limited, 2015.

          YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtUH9z_Oey8. Accessed 30 May 2019.

Ltd, Siteseen. "American History Timeline." Dates and Events, Mar. 2018,

          www.datesandevents.org/events-timelines/14-american-history-timeline.htm.

          Accessed 30 May 2019.

Starkey, Richard. Don't Pass Me By. 1968. Calderstone Productions Limited, 2009.

          YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTKEiQHHsuk. Accessed 30 May 2019.

Sterling, Rod. There is a fifth dimension. CBS News, www.cbsnews.com/pictures/

          the-10-greatest-twilight-zone-episodes/13/. Accessed 6 June 2019.

Word Count: 1231