A Letter to my Dear Uncle Sam

Dear Uncle Sam, when you first met me, I was just a baby, meek and obedient

Some things have changed since then so please allow me to reintroduce myself

My name is David 0mega: I am a poet and I am so very angry with you

I have what most would call a redress of grievances

But since all you seem to care about is money then maybe you’ll think of me as a walking, talking invoice

The deficit created when you let banks charge people money for not having enough money

I am the benefits owed to every laid off worker you’ve thrown out into the street

I am every pan handler you refused to look in the face

Uncle Sam, I am the debt you owe to every family you forced onto food stamps just to kick us the fuck off

I am every union organizer you martyred

Our resurrected zombie hordes gathering at your gated communities to strike at your mansions

I am everyone you gave bootstraps instead of a hand up

Then mocked us for tying off our veins to escape the pain instead of magically pulling ourselves up after you yanked away the ladder

I am every trans kid you beat back into conformity

I am every queer kid you drove to suicide

Our decrepit hands rising up from the cold, unforgiving earth to reach out and crush your windpipe

I am every teacher you hold hostage from paycheck to paycheck

I am every student you watched gunned down in your district and you did nothing

Blood still pouring from our bullet holes that you papered over with your thoughts and your fucking prayers

I am every surviving parent you then begged for a campaign donation

I am not justice, I am retaliation

I am the equal and opposite reaction to your inaction against inequality

I am every woman you prescribed a coat hanger for healthcare

I am every diabetic you murdered by hiking up drug prices

The tsunami of our blood crashing against your private beaches to drown you in your summer homes

I am every indigenous child you kidnapped and assimilated

I am every native woman you raped and disappeared

I am every massacre your bullshit destiny manifested

Our ghosts now haunting the strip malls you built over our fucking graves

I am every refugee you threw in a cage

I am every Palestinian you famined

I am every neck you put your knee on

I am every unarmed child you shot in the back you fucking coward

I am sick and tired of civility

There will be nothing civil about the war I wage against you, Uncle Sam

I am not justice, I am the consequences of your actions

But since all you seem to care about is money then I’ll put it in terms you can better understand

Uncle Sam, I am the bill come to be paid

And, motherfucker, I am overdue