Vivek Sharma

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America as disputed territory

It is not politically correct to say it, but
foreigners see in the future a possibility
of America becoming a disputed territory.

Imagine those Indians, dead for centuries
rebirthing armed and angry
demanding their original property
and at gunpoint, asking for compensation
for their generations of depravity.

You might dismiss their fears
under charges of improbability
but they see in future the possibility
of America as a disputed territory.

Imagine the slaves, lynched to their graves,
returning able bodies, seeking a revolution,
rights listed in the constitution -
equality, liberty and retributions
to their lack of real opportunity.

You might think that racism is past
does not exist in your country
but when they see your reality
they, unbiased by propaganda machinery,
can smell in the future a possibility
of America becoming a disputed country.

What if millions in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan,
Palestine and South American hinterlands,
announce their own demands
decide to arrive as refugees
to their much hated country.

Immigration laws are defenseless
against swarms of locusts
arriving unexpected, unannounced
to feed on the harvest of others
without pang or guilt or sympathy
they believe you've caused them to suffer terribly
they could haunt you, or at least explore the possibility
of converting America into a disputed territory.

When oil will run out and dollar decay
owing to a stronger world economy,
when Saudi lenders will pinch you harder
for every Japanese byte of luxury,
when inflated GPAs will crash
under the feet of third world intellect,
when your cars, your weapons, your movies,
a reformed world will start to reject,
when Mexicans will refuse to bow down,
work for less for Americans,
when African dictators will be executed
and new democracies rouse new developments,
when China's industry, India's IT, Russian exports
will foster new fraternities, new Europes,
and even friendly nations will demand spoils
ask for return of imperialistic colonies
if Jewish, Christian and Muslim zealots
chose this nation as center of conflict
and if in embattled economy
the victorious President turns socialist

you will find yourself in strange calamity
your lifestyle, as you know it, will cease to be,
and even though this all seems unlikely,
and it may turn out to be all fallacy,
foreigners words as one poet's fancy
or maybe they are just rephrasing
the recurrent lessons from human history -
the power center shifts recurrently.

It is not politically correct to state it,
but we foreigners hear the alarm bells,
and fear the possibility
of America becoming a war worn territory.


bio:
Vivek Sharma holds a doctorate in engineering and is a Pushcart nominated poet. His work is published or forthcoming in Poetry, Kartika Review, The Cortland Review, Bateau, Atlanta Review, etc. He writes columns and verses for Divya Himachal (a Hindi newspaper in India) and his research is published in science journals. Vivek grew up in Himachal Pradesh, a state in the Himalayas, India. He is currently a post-doctoral research associate at MIT. Vivek's first book of verse "The Saga of a Crumpled Piece of Paper" will be published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta in 2009.

(author retains copyright)




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