Last night, I awakened 

    from a dream. 

I dreamed of an America

    in which those sworn to protect

    and serve, abused and killed instead. 

An America where hunger turned barbed

    wire into shredded wheat and stomachs

    became caskets. 

An America where masks were discarded

    and grown men hid under sheets

    as they stormed halls of democracy. 

An America who forgot her. history, 

    her polls claiming hate was history, 

    an animal extinct like polar ice caps. 

An America in which no one told the truth, 

    no one felt safe getting groceries, 

An America where no one escaped the 

    brutality of law and order run amok

    or escaped the massacre in a nightclub, 

    or a massage parlor, 

    or a high school, 

    or a supermarket. 

An America that claimed there were “good” nazis, 

    but- didn’t Uncle Jesse go to war 

    to stop the goose-stepping in ’44? 

An America where a wall grew in a 

    land that once told a foreign leader

    to “tear down this wall.”

An America where hate mongers 

    quoted the words of Dr. King, 

    and you were no longer safe at church. 

An America whose Statue of Liberty 

was silenced, her torch gone cold, 

    the ashes our new mascara. 

An America whose populace quaked, 

slouching toward a coming apocalypse. 

Was it just a dream?

-Gary K. Farlow