I Love it Here (in America)

Straight away the news comes at you
Some barrage of words forming sentences
How long must we spend in the prison of lies?
Distrust seems to be the sentiment
So little belief yet we need to believe in something or
Someone so we yearn and wish and wring hands and hope
United we stand and divided we stand
Alone
Our backs up and our feelings exposed spit flying in the ceaseless argument
Right and left and center a ball of confusion compounded by rhetoric
Simmered in old aggressions and
Fostering fear for the future and past and present
This great melting pot the fine conglomeration the mixed bag of nuts the
Hot tasty stew of America
Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet
Rugby, hush puppies, ramen noodles and Creme’ Brule
Basketball, curry, hamburgers and fish filets
Enchiladas, hot sauce, fried rice and chicken satay
Culture and tradition and law on spin cycle as we wander blind through
Hallways strewn with broken promises and half-baked conspiracy theories
The beauty here is in the evolve and ever-solve the
Assimilation and salutations granted by the young, old and hipster alike
What a beautiful score Rap and Country
Heavy Metal and Waltz
Salsa and disco
Punk and electronica the symphony is endless
Diverse and progressive and a true reflection of just how much we can grow as
Human Beings
The beauty in our belonging and longing our loves and woes our loyal choices
The sinner loves the sinner loves the sinner and the Angel as well, no Hell for children
I love it here
Don’t lose sight of the original free people
The immigrants arrived later and brought ideas and pain and growth
Much to the detriment it’s always the same when the conquerors arrived yet we endure and
Ensure our babies have it a little better than before and isn’t that a noble goal?
We pay for our trespass and build bridges, level mountains, create roads and skyscrapers
We protect the unprotected we stand up for the little guy we cry at Disney movies and
Sigh when the missiles launch
America the land of the free and the home of the Brave such poignant ideas and
Ideas are so dangerous and yet without them we hide in caves and kill the outsider
I love it here
Democracy works and Bureaucracy sucks yet mutually exclusive they are not
Take it down a notch
Don’t empower the thoughtless
Don’t enrich the heartless
Don’t buy into the bullshit
If you can help it
I want togetherness and yet I want independence I am American I want it all
I can have it here in this place and somehow in the rat race in the loss of face in the endless chase
I know I can be free in America
She comforts me in darkest nights and while I fear for those whom I swear to guard
I refuse to submit to a sameness, a homogeny, a cabal of same thinking
I refuse to admit that we’re blameless, superior or that our resolve is shrinking instead
I demand to keep finding love in the loveless reaches and compassion in the differences we share
I swear
I love it here
America is my home and I want to share
For what we give away comes back to stay and isn’t that the way we play in America?
Everyone owes a little respect to everyone else or you lose
Look inside and find it it’s somewhere behind the self-righteous anger or the hurt-filled heart
Dancing in the souls we possess and reflected in our action
We can take true satisfaction simply in the attempt to curb the reaction and keep on being human
After all
The one great leveler is the end of days
It comes for us all on that pale horse and takes us away and what will those left behind have to say about us?
Did you do the right thing?
Did you stand up for the downtrodden and lift up the broken?
Did you give the best possible chance to those who truly try to bring it around in spite of the noise?
Or did you quietly stand by and watch and hope and pray you weren’t on the train when they came for the outsider?
I love it here in America.
I will fight for her until my last breath because she is worth fighting for as so many have before
In America
You want her free so we can continue to see the power of you and me when we disagree and still hold tight to each other, Father and Mother, Sisters and Brothers
All of us scraping and scrimping to leave our marks in the hearts of the rest of us when we step off
and Carry on beyond the moment, beyond the arguments beyond the great fight to a place
A place you can see.
Open your eyes and see.
It’s all worth it you see.
To stay free.
In America

©2017 Harry R. Fagel all rights reserved

Work is a place where time bends towards the rest of the world, instead of inward towards my art. Therefore, in the interest of such, I have had little time to give art the attention it needs. I am hopeful this year will be more fruitful for my artistic endeavors, my muse is berating me like a house full of hens. Looking forward to putting forth some effort here, so stay tuned and prepare to be Fagelized.

Sweet sweet Sam
Warrior Sam
I was green as a blade of grass
New cop
Rook
Puppy
Wide eyed and wondering at the darkest corners of the night when I met
Sergeant Sam
He was such the mentor
Teaching the cop way
The right way
The warrior way
We flew the night and conquered evil with our hearts out and minds open
Sweet sweet Sam
Entering the Cambodian Donut Shop at 4 o’clock in the morning and hearing the owner rush out
Sergeant Sam Sergeant Sam
And drinks in the dusty morning after cleaning blood and grime and tears from our worn armor and discussing life
He was the marrying kind
Married Kim and then Debbie and then Cindy and then Amy
And I’m sure he was questing for another when he slipped like sand in an hourglass away from here
And I can’t help but picture him
Resplendent in uniform or plain clothes or even at his last wedding with a crown of leaves adorning his head
With that same smile just ready to break over the horizon of his lips and light his face at any given moment in time
Sweet sweet Sam
21 years as guardian of the city
Keeper of the lights
Defender of good and
Vanquisher of Evil

Doing it right
Doing it kind
Compassion for others stacked up in his heart like 10 million ingots of gold
Reaching he was always reaching and
Searching for Love
He found it in his children always
Ryan and Casey and Ashley and Garrett and Megan too
When he spoke of them I always saw joy reflected reflected reflecting in his eyes
Sam Sweet sweet Sam
I feel your kindness washing over here and now a Tsunami of goodness picking me up lifting me up Carrying me forward past this moment past the pain of your passing past the space once solid but now Ethereal you occupy and my tears burn and sting but I am glad to have known you I rejoice in your helping to shape my mind my heart my soul and my life
As you have so many others
Sweet Sweet Sam
I know you dreamed of being a fighter pilot
Soaring on the clouds above in liquid air
High high above the earth
Where the bluest blue meets the stars and kisses them briefly
Spinning and dancing and cartwheeling past and
Glimpsing Heavens Gate just swinging wide open for you
And calling you home
Time to go and give your love everlasting
As a Warrior in the sky
Warrior Angel
Warrior Father
Warrior Husband and
Warrior King but mostly and always
Sweet sweet Sam
A cop and friend I will never forget.

for Sam Hilliard and Family February 5, 2002 by Harry R. Fagel

Authors Note: Sam Hilliard was a Sergeant with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police department. He passed away suddenly one morning, much to the horror of so many who loved him. This was one of the first tributes I was asked to write for a fallen friend.

Welcome to the Free
You stand pissing in the same world as
Freaks and
Soldiers
Cops and
Strangers
Beatnik Preacher Homosexual Revolutionaries
You drop water with
Kings and
Devils
Whores and
UPS men
The Exalted and
The truly evil
The likes of You pass time
And Wind here
Along with Doctors and
Lawyers and
Artists and
Junkies
Politicians have reared ugly heads in here
Writers and
Confederates too
And the insane the
Insane have bathed in the very sink you
(hopefully)
Wash your hands in
Cackling as the water slid over their
Fevered skins
Lovers have stopped here
Haters as well
Students Professors Runaways
The Spiritual and the Jaded
Spinning short tales of lust or devotion or both right where you
Stand
here in the cubby
In the inner sanctum
Deep in the secret heart of this
Holy Café

-Harry Sweet Feet Fagel 2000

Authors Note: This poem was written in tribute to the Cafe Roma, which used to reside at 4440 Maryland Parkway. It was the first place I read poetry out loud to others on a regular basis, and it was truly a magical place. Open mics, acoustic nights, “The Killers” Dayvid Figler, Trish Martin, Alex Getchell, Josh Brown, Biscuit Street Preacher, RU, Ken Jordan of Crystal Method, Romney the Rocket, Spit Newborn, Elizabeth Blau, Zog, Sonny, Roller Blading, Beth Carey, Saab Lofton, Steve Custer, Frank Masey, Crazy Bob, Kate Hausbeck, Scott Johnson, the list goes on and on, and just like the poem says, so very much more. I miss this spot still, and I am sure so many others do as well. I could list names until I ran out of band width, so if you read this and remember, please post. Filthy, amazing, Roma. R.I.P.