I Am (Continued) Poem by Eric Cockrell

i am, become...
i am the lonesome wail
of streets gone empty,
of factories deserted,
of shops closed down.
i am the abortion clinic bombed
by the right wing fanatic,
and the baby left with a baby
that she cannot raise.

i am the food pantry,
the mission, the soup line...
my faces used to be your neighbors.
i am the tractor rusted in the snow,
the well gone dry...

i am the young gay couple
wanting so much to marry,
i am the fundamentalist afraid
of anything i dont understand.

i am the heroin addict
on the endless stoop,
i am the black child growing up
in a neighborhood terrorized.

i am the immigrant looking for work,
i am the crops left rotting in the fields...
i am the bedpan changer, the floor sweeper,
and the emergency room nurse...

i am the single mom,
food stamps, and no work...
the young man who drives
the old woman out to vote.

i am the balled up fist,
the set lip, the phallic rose...
i am America exploding!
i am, become...