Brewster, Elizabeth

Welsh

Journals @ The Mount

P O E M FOR AMER ICA Amer i ca my a l m o s t c o u n t r y t i s o f thee I might have sung. "We a r e not C a n a d i a n s , we a r e B r i t i s h N o r t h A m e r i c a n s , " my New Br u n s w i c k a n t i - c o n f e d e r a t i o n u n c l e s a i d . "Maybe we s h o u l d secede and go back where we b e l o n g . " Only who belongs t h e r e any more? In Cambridge I l i v e d on T o r y Row and was a t home and homes i c k . "Why d i d n ' t you Canadians come i n w i t h u s ? " my room mate once asked me. "But we weren't Canadians t h e n , " I s a i d , "We were y o u . Why d i d you l e a v e ? " When I t h i n k o f America I t h i n k o f t h e o t h e r Americans George the T h i r d ' s p e r s i s t e n t s u b j e c t s b u r i e d i n l o y a l i s t g r a v e y a r d s . How many o f them d i e d t h e i r f i r s t c o l d s t a r v i n g s t u b b o r n w i n t e r away from home? A R e v o l u t i o n i s a c i v i l war. A m e r i c a i s a land o f c i v i l war. A l s o i t i s ( o r was) U t o p i a . I d i d not choose U t o p i a . T h e r e f o r e I d i d not choose y o u . I chose i n s t e a d n o n - p e r f e c t i b i l i t y , t h e n o n - i d e a l , and t h i s n o n - c o u n t r y f o r which I h a l f a p o l o g i z e . (My r o o t s a r e i n a p r o v i n c e where p e o p l e say " I am g o i n g t o Canada" and I 1 i v e i n a n o t h e r where p e o p l e blame t h e East f o r h a i l and d u s t s t o r m s . ) 1 d i d not choose you and y e t , A m e r i c a , I am t o r n I l o v e I g r i e v e f o r you my d e a r my f e a r e d my n e a r l y n a t i v e l a n d . E B 

POEM FOR AMERICA

https://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/download/4833/4051

POEM FOR AMERICA

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