I Have a Dream: Inaugural Poems for a New Generation

JASMINE STANDEZ Untitled The shared sun rises over expansive grasslands, sparkling, snowy mountains peering through shuttered windows, spilling gold on the faces of America.

Bleary eyes look upon our country, the revered place of freedom hoping this will be their day, this their moment.

Sleep shaken away, uniforms donned, truckers snake their silver trucks cross-country, Teachers slide on glasses, the future of America waiting in their classrooms, Farmers pluck strawberries, straw hats palm trees over a desert of crops.

Some bleakly stare at a hazy skyline, hoping for time to make a change.

As the ozone layer chokes on pollution.

Dread fills the hearts of those pleading for a future, as unexpected fires ravage hope, floating away with plastics discarded into the sea.

The scars of the past poison today, remnants strangling those who have fought so hard.

Dripping blood and sweat for the promise of America only received with its beauty stained by the cynicism required to survive.

And yet.

We still hope.

Hope for change.

Hope for true equality.

Hope for a future slowly, slipping away.

Hope not lost, only scattered seeds in a field of stone.

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