FOURTH OF JULY POEM
(For Donald Trump)

Stepped on pissed on
Cheated and abused
Taken advantage of blue collar man
Caught up in the American scam

Don’t tell me anyone can be
Anything they want to be
If they put their mind to it

Save you BS for the deaf
Dumb and blind
It’ll never sell in the ghetto
Or to the immigrants
You’ve turned your back on

Take your message to the church
Tell it to the man on death row
Tell it to the starving poor
Tell it to the sick and lame
Tell it to the rich folks
Tell it to the politicians
Tell it to the serial killers
Tell it to Wall Street
Tell it to the man on the gallows
Tell it to the chiseled faces
On Mount Rushmore
Tell it to the children
You kidnapped from their parents
And put in cages
For the crime of seeking sanctuary

Tell it to the those who died
On the battle fields
So you could change the Fourth of July
From “we” the people to “me” the people
With you tanks and flyovers
Masturbating your ego

Tell it to the street whore
Tell it to the crack head
Tell it to the last wino
On desolation row

Tell it to the banker
Tell it to the butcher
Tell it to the unemployed

Tell it to the circus clown
Tell it to the insane
Tell it to the outlaw

Tell it to the panhandler
Tell it to the con man
Tell it to the baby
Found stuffed in a dumpster

Tell it to the displaced factory worker
Tell it to the elderly
Tell it to the last alien hiding out in Roswell

Tell it to the militia
Tell it to the FBI sharpshooters
At Ruby Ridge
Tell it to the arsonists
At Waco, Texas
Tell it the Indians at Standing Rock
Tell it to the junkie with dry heaves

Tell it to the conservative Supreme court justices
Dressed in their death black robes
Who consistently vote in favor
Of money and power

Tell it to the farm worker
Tell it to the dishwasher
Tell it to the orderlies
Tell it to the flag waver

Tell it to the coal miner
Dying from black lung disease
Tell it to the garment worker
Slaving away in sweat shops
In Chinatown and the Latin Quarter

Tell it to big business
Tell it to Corporate America
Tell it to the blood stained NRA

Tell it to the oil barons
Tell it to the tobacco merchants
Tell it to the fur industry
Who club baby seals to death
For the clothing merchants

Tell it to the Vatican
Tell it to the Priests
Tell it to the battered wives of America

Tell it to the pharmacy industry
Profiting off the sick and lame
Tell it to the millions of people
Dying from air pollution
In Mexico China and India

Tell it to the man on his deathbed
Not sure why he lived
Or what he is dying for

Tell it to Jesus Christ
Shout it to the stars
Line the traitors up against the wall
Rewrite the Ten Commandments
And start all over again

---

A. D. Winans (1936), is an American poet, essayist, short story writer and publisher.

READ: 3 POEMS BY SAN FRANCISCO LEGEND A.D. WINANS