By Samantha Bonk
Poets sing their songs
That have written history
For our American Country
As it developed,
Unfold,
Became the superpower
After trails took toll on
our nation.
Yet forgotten they are
Because names and dates
defeat them
In the classroom
But not today.
Today let me explain
history
In the eyes of our poets.
It was April 18th of
seventy-five,
When ‘pon midnight did ride
Our famous Paul Revere.
He rode through the streets
Trying to beat the Redcoats
Around the bend, calling to
arms
Our American men![1]
See, Henry Wadsworth
Wrote of Paul Revere
And his poem persevered
Because without,
Revere would never appear
In our history books at
all.
While there is a song
That is not too long,
You sing at each game,
Each inauguration
In our States.
This is the song
Of “the land of the free
And the home of the brave”[2]
Where the Star-Spangled
Banner does wave.
This is our Anthem
Which came from the poem by
Mr. Scott Keys called
“Defense of Fort M’Henry”.
For without,
What would we sing?
And when independence was
won,
Patriotism sprung
As Walt Whitman claims
“He hears America singing…
Each singing what belongs
To him or her and none
else”[3]
For America is free.
This a cause for
celebration,
One we take for granted now
Because hotdogs and
fireworks
Only last so long
And our country’s a
powerhouse now
So freedom is something we
need not gain
For the pain of oppression
is forgotten today.
But then, that was not the
case,
As slavery reigned
And brought just pain
And heartbreak for the
white man’s gain,
Yet slaves are poets too,
Their life sheds truth on
their abuse.
They scream
“the influence of
slaveholding power,
Like a dark cloud of
vengeance
does over them lore,
And from it a poison most
deadly distills,
And freedom’s best
lifeblood,
it stagnates and chills.”[4]
But as pain is brought
forth
On paper, in words
Liberation does push
Towards the light
As South and North divide
While each poem revives
A feeling of hope
For our soldiers to fight
For freedom and rights.
As Whitman writes
“Drum Taps”
Explaining what the Civil
War
Meant to those who
Tapped out lights
And as his poem grow
To the public eyes
More rise to fight.
And as our “poet fueled
war”[5]
Came to a close
And Lincoln’s quill rose
Reconstruction imposed,
As equality is gained
Yet unsustained
As Jim Crow Laws and
segregation arose
And will not close.
Still Ms. Walker spreads
A message of hope
For equality and peace
“For [her] People”[6] and
our country.
While as Industrialization
climbed,
Smog rised.
Dickinson writes
Banish Air From Air,
Which shared the importance
of nature
Which then was impaired,
As cities grew
And the sun who
Once had shown
Is unknown to dweller’s
eyes,
So this poem inspired
reform
To once again feel
The warmth of the Sun.
Sun, which shone on
A new life for many
As immigrants climbed into
ships
Inspired by our lady
Who on her base cries,
“Give me your tired, your
poor,
your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your
teeming shores.
Send these, the homeless,
tempest tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the
golden door.”[7]
This poem, The New
Colossus
Brought to us by Ms.
Lazarus
Is the reason cities teemed
With laborers working hard,
Sweat streaming
As their feats are
unnoticed by companies
But still, they have hope
Inspired by “the light
beside the golden door.”
And in celebration Sandburg
writes
Of our city,
The good and the bad of our
“Hog Butcher of the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of
Wheat,
Player with Railroads and
the Nation’s Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of Big Shoulders”[8]
This poem brought
overwhelming
Pride for our Chicago city
Just before World War I
As it grew to new heights
While our country turns all
its might
To the growing war
overseas,
Where the “Anthem for
Doomed Youth”
Springs to our country
As it sings,
“Only the monstrous anger
of the guns,
Only the stuttering rifles
rapid rattle”[9]
Patters overseas.
And this Anthem pulls on
our heartstrings
So, our money flings
To the military
And our neutrality swings
to
Selling submarines,
food,
weapons,
anything
to the Allied Powers
overseas.
So when the draft hits,
And men are shipped across
sea
They sing,
“Send the word,
Send the word over there,
That the Yanks are coming,
The Yanks are coming
The drums rum-tumming
ev’rywhere.”[10]
And patriotism springs
As they sing their song,
And women rush to fill in
jobs
In factories
For their country.
Yet when the war is won,
Europe is left in disarray
Completely dismayed
From the shower of
firepower,
But America flowers
For now is our hour
Because America’s a
Superpower.
[1]From Longfellow, H. W. (1860). Paul
Revere's Ride.
[2] From Keys, F. S. (1814). Defense of Fort
M'Henry.
[3] From Whitman, W. (1860). I Hear America
Singing.
[4] From L.L. (1844). A family escaping from
slavery.
[5] Wilson, E. (2012, November 13). A "Poetry-Fueled War"
(Interview by R. Graham). Poetry Foundation.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69877/a-poetry-fueled-war
[6] This poem was originally named “For My People” by Maraget Walker
explaining the hardships African Americans faced during this time period.
[7] Lazarus, E. (1883). The New Colossus.
[8] Sandburg, C. (1914). Chicago.
[9] Owen, W. (1920). Anthem for Doomed Youth.
[10] Send the Word Over There [Video]. (n.d.). YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6hRDS3LvQQ
About the Author
Samantha Bonk is a senior at Metamora
Township High School enrolled in ICC dual credit courses. Apart from writing
poetry, she enjoys playing her double bass and classical guitar. Sammy is fond
of traversing across the country and hopes to visit all fifty states.