Love Poem To America, by Catherine Pierce

Hello Poets,
Mining the roots of America with Catherine Pierce, a feminine view from the Whitmanesque heights. 
Oh my goodness, when do we catch our breath, how does this love story end?
Best,
Sam


Love Poem To America

America, teach me how to strut. Teach me
how to whistle with two fingers
in my mouth, how to pop off a bottle cap
with my teeth. You’re the one I want

to hate, with all your swagger and bravado,
and of course you take me home
every time. Who could resist? You’re the biggest,
blondest movie star of all, the Mr. Universe

of the millennium, your hands and feet
and everything so strong and mindless,
so rugged, yes. You’re buffalo blood and all things
forbidden, the prizefighter who killed

the favorite fair and square. In bed,
you fell me like a redwood. I’m lost
in your factory body – such perfect and grinding
machinery. Oh, America, you’re gritty

and glowing and I love the asphalt taste of you,
your acid smell and your hunger and I love
how, afterward, you roll over and snore
like a locomotive before I even catch my breath.


by Catherine Pierce, from Famous Last Words, 2008