when your america was founded
i had no place in the narrative
for the term American Indian
was coined to compensate
for the exotica
of how, in 1492,
columbus sailed the ocean blue
and missed -
entirely.
when your america was founded
my kind had no place on the ballot
for a brown-skinned woman
was not worth
the weighted glance
of a white man’s most trivial thought.
when your america was founded,
my stance had no representation in history
for my land of the free
was built, cherished, and raised
to undermine who i am,
suppress all with which i stand for.
for i am now resigned
to accept my absence in the narrative,
but in parting from my
white-washed education,
surely you can teach me the art
of love, unreciprocated,
after condemning me to worship a country
founded to not love me back.
when your america was founded
broad stripes and bright stars,
consider how its history
founded me.
the len(z) 