Andrés Castro
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE
Body, please find it
in your sixty-three-year-old heart
to forgive me,
as well as this warring nation.
We have failed you.
That I that depends on your eyes
knows every part of you,
down to cells, has been abused.
How could I ever be
my brother’s keeper
if I cannot keep you?
Grey matter, thank you for making
it possible to know the U.S.
(not of which it stands)
from what it does: turn bodies
into cash slaves, commodities,
& corpses.
Gut, thank you for the signs
I have a soul
like other souls that want peace
for a tortured planet.
Dear Body, traveling
between the top of your head
to your toes, I know
we were born for better.
I pledge allegiance to you.