Made in America: A Patriotic Prayer

Dearly Bewildered,

We are gathered here today
to Make America Great Again.
MAGA?
MAGA!

Let’s pray to MAKE AMERICA…

      GASP
      GRASP
      GIVE UP…GIVE IN…
      GRIEVE
      GAG
      GENUFLECT…and
      GLAZE ALL OVER AGAIN

With your help, we can MAKE IT…

      GROAN
      GAMBLE
      GRUNT
      GRIMACE…and
      GROWL AGAIN

Yes, you can MAKE AMERICA…

      GREEDY
      GROTESQUE
      GRAVID
      GULLIBLE
      GARRULOUS
      GRAFT-RIDDEN
      GARBAGE-FILLED
      GUN-TOTING
      GRUMPY…and
      GRACELESS AGAIN

And while you are at it, you can also MAKE AMERICA

      GLUTEAL MAXIMUS
      GODAWFUL
      GRIMY
      GLUM
      GRANDIOSE and…
      GASEOUS…as well as
      GAIN WEIGHT
      GROW LISTLESS and
      GLUTTONOUS and
      GRUESOME AGAIN

Stop to think of it, let’s finally MAKE AMERICA…

      GROPE
      GROVEL
      GRAB SOME GROIN and…

      GOOSE-STEP
            AGAIN…and
                  AGAIN…and
                        AGAIN.

                  AMEN!

Joel Savishinsky is a retired anthropologist and gerontologist. His Breaking the Watch: The Meanings of Retirement in America, won the Gerontological Society of America’s annual book prize. A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, and a California Quarterly, Third Wednesday, Passager, and LIGHT Magazine award winner, his poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in Beyond Words, Blue Collar Review, Consequence, The Decolonial Passage, the New York Times, the Opiate, and Windfall. The Poetry Box published his collection Our Aching Bones, Our Breaking Hearts: Poems on Aging. He lives in Seattle, considers himself a recovering academic and unrepentant activist, and is trying to help raise hell and five grandchildren. He can be reached at: savishin@gmail.com. Read other articles by Joel.