I Like America From A Distance Poem by Raj Dronamraju

I like America from a distance
Filtered through TV shows and other entertainments
The occasional colored collared shirt bought on sale
The occasional hamburger and mass produced food

Close up, America's disfiguring flaws are visible
Chapped hands grasping at less or nothing at all
Pockmarked skin show the effects of a corrupted environment
Eyes full of equal parts hate and sadness and greed

I like America from a distance
When its soldiers stay in America and go on drills for wars that will hopefully never break out

When I lived in America, I didn't like it
All stress and red-faced boneheads and Tantalus level want that is never satisfied
Now I like America from a distance

Because the life that will kill you
Should be handled with great care
Viewed only through protective covering
Like watching a tiger stalk around menacingly in his cage at a zoo