greetings from the colonies

it is sacrilege for me to say
i don’t care for the 4th of july

staking our independence perpetually
on someone else’s claim

i’m not unpatriotic for saying
every death in battle
is a death in vain

blowing our thumbs off
detonating explosives
is an american tradition

if we love our troops so much
let’s stop finding new and improved ways
for them to die

we sailed on a refugee ship from religious oppression
so that we could become more oppressive

the dutch wouldn’t let us stay more than a few nights
they didn’t want our puritanical bullshit
fucking up their children’s minds

my grandmother’s ghost
beaded with genocide
told me
you can’t discover a place
where other people are already living

america was built on a native graveyard

that’s why our culture is plagued
by angry poltergeists
and our child’s hands are glued
to a static tv
listening to paul revere
scream
they’re here

the british weren’t so bad

besides

i love tea