<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">Letter to America</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">America I still love you</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">in spite of the hateful rhetoric</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">that spews from every street corner</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">in each forgotten city</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">while millions lose jobs</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">they once thought were theirs</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">and mothers work a multitude of jobs</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">well into the night just to feed their starving children</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">America I still love you</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">while fires burn uncontrollably</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">taking away homes</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">from those too poor to replace them</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">scattered homeless now displaced when once</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">they drove shiny cars and wore gold chains</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">factory workers strung out on opioids </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">tattered brains no longer care about</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">the America of long ago when our soldiers</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">came home from World War II and we</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">welcomed them with the GI bill, a new home</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">and jobs with pensions</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">what a comfortable life that used to be</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">America I still love you</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">while refugees grace our land who once</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">were welcomed with open arms</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">now they’re separated from their children</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">who then are locked in cages</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">and never seen again</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">America I’m getting frustrated</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">with promises of universal healthcare</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">while our environment rots at the core</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">and more of us are struck with cancer</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">each and every year</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">America I’m losing hope</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">in escaping gun violence</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">when so many are allowed to openly carry</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">their semi-automatics and shoot innocent</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">children or those practicing their religions</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">in church or synagogues</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">dying for what? to prove they’re some type of hero</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">on Social Media sites?</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">to give their families something to be proud of?</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">America I’m dying</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">because of poison air</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">filthy, lying politicians</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">not being able to leave my home</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">for fear of what’s around the corner</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">waiting to end my life </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">forever</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><i class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span></i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-style: italic; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-style: normal;" class="">- Marsha Johansen</span></div></div></body></html>