This was written right after watching the presidential inauguration. I really enjoyed the poet Richard Blanco and his poem “One Today”. I used it, and the rest of the ceremony, for inspiration. I thought that it would be important for me to really focusing on what it is that connect us together as Americans, and also can devise and separate us through erroneous use of our egos etc. I hope you enjoy it! Cheers!

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For I am no poet

No writer, nor musician

No athlete or businessman

I am but nothing and will return

–

I must be stripped of all

Before I know what I am

What I am made of

What wiring makes my soul

–

All the confusion and static

The noise and the stammer

Of what others want

And I need

–

In the confusion I believe one

And forget another

Only to remember

To be reminded of yet another

–

So I challenge myself and you

To strip away what is

And to find what will be

What is it that you stand for

–

To look at these flesh and bones

And find what the meaning is

Beyond the labels and toys

Finding a simple meaning within

–

For we are all connected in a manner

An inner webbing that connects us

That unites us

And if we so choose tears us apart

–

Yet we strive for more

To seek meaning that is greater

Than the sum of our parts

And unifies us

–

This is our challenge

Our calling

Our honor

To be what we are

–

To forget the other meanings

And find our own

Not in our own minds

But from deep within