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Poem-a-day

Anthem for America

Untitled Document
an Abecedarian

Allegiance to the flag is a start. A promise.
Begin there, says the teacher.
Come, and we’ll climb the Hill at sunup,
Daring, not disruptive. Dusk metes out mornings for
Everyone who makes room
For freedom to mold another day, a lump of soft clay.
Go places, let my guitar emulate Leonard Cohen’s
Hallelujah, we will rock Hendrix style. Let Lennon sing:
It’s so hard, to sing for America. Imagine!
Just once, can we figure how to rebel this—what
Karma will justify sedition to reclaim a lost election?
Liberty gasping between light & the dark. To
Man up takes bravery, says the teacher.
Now, now, how did we get here, asks a student.
O, tell us how, you self-
Possessed Patriots.
Quickness is not the order of time, said an elder.
Repeatedly we vowed persistence,
Stood reigning just like dawn & dusk, till
Truth, the goddess of life gonged.
Untethered you’ll arrest the truth, &
Vision too will wane if only a biased whim.
We are You—Us is America,
XY YX XXXY YXY, limitless
Yes! Proclaim: P for peace, E for earth, A for all.
Zero in on C for climate, E for equality. Our unity.

Copyright © 2025 by Varsha Saraiya-Shah. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 17, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.

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Varsha Saraiya-Shah

Varsha Saraiya-Shah
Courtesy of Varsha Saraiya-Shah
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About Poem-a-Day

Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Garrett Hongo is the Guest Editor of May. Read or listen to a Q&A with Hongo about his curatorial process, and learn more about the 2025 Guest Editors. Support Poem-a-Day.  

If you have any questions about Poem-a-Day, visit our Poem-a-Day FAQ.

Previous Poems

Title Author Date
The Paltry Nude Starts on a Spring Voyage Wallace Stevens 05/05/2013
Remorse Carl Sandburg 05/04/2013
“I’m afraid of death” Kathleen Ossip 05/03/2013
Belong To David Baker 05/02/2013
harbor (the conversion) Nick Flynn 05/01/2013
They Romp with Wooly Canines Patricia Smith 04/30/2013
The Sparrow Gerald Stern 04/29/2013
My Lady Is Compared to a Young Tree Vachel Lindsay 04/28/2013
Poetry Alfred Kreymborg 04/27/2013
Baudelaire in Airports Amy King 04/25/2013

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