Whose Land Is America?

This is a little piece of poem that I wrote a while ago when I visited Cleveland, Ohio.  There I had a chance to visit the Native American Indian museum and Cuyahoga valley where those Native American Indian tribes used to inhabit long, long time ago.  I had such a sad feeling touring the areas imagining how the people of the land might have felt when they were confronted with strangers from the other side of the world. Today, we still witness a lot of heartbreaking and perplexing incidents where one ethnic group hates and maltreats the others just because of difference in skin color, faith, culture, and groundless misconception or prejudice against them.  It is so absurd for one race not to tolerate the existence or prosperity of the others in this country, which was established and developed by the invaders from the outside. Since when has it percolated through to us that such and such type of people with different ideas or ethnicities are inferior to the so-called “holier-than-thou” hegemonic class that is seemingly so condescending in this society? Who is the owner of this territory? Who is the voice of this nation? Whose land is America?  

An Ode to Cuyahoga Valley

by Jean Lee

Along the twists and turns of the river,

All the leaves dredged in summer green holler with pain.

Listening to their roar,

We were led back to the remnant of the old days slain.

Who was it wearing innocent smiles in the upland plateau?

When was it that the indefatigable spirit got ousted with tear?

The Great blue Heron in the valley gives you a magnificent wing span

quite pseudo,

But her eyes are telling you the past in fear.

Streaming sounds mixed in the waterfall

Echo the voice lost for good, I'd say.

Breezy forest full of weeping wild flowers so tall

Resembles the hopeless eyes of yesterday.

Expressions

to be confronted with something: to have something in front of you that you have to deal with or react to    e.g., High school kids today have no time to savor their beautiful young days because they are confronted with so many things to complete on their plates: school projects, back-to-back tests, and extracurricular activities.

perplexing: confusing, anxious, hard to understand      

e.g., You’ll never imagine how perplexing the situation of gun control in this country is today!

to percolate through to ~: to gradually become known or spread through (a group/ society)

holier-than-thou: showing that one thinks that he/she is morally better than other people

e.g., The arrogant coach’s holier-than-thou attitude has made all his players sick!

condescending: hauty/ snobbish/ disdainful/ showing that you believe that you are something or someone more intelligent than other people

ode: a poem that celebrates or speaks to somebody/ something     e.g., Have you read John Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale”? It is a profound exploration of life and death with the sense of impermanence of life.

to holler: to shout/ yell loudly

remnant: a part of something that is left after the other parts have been used, removed, or destroyed

plateau: an area of flat land that is higher than the land around it

to get ousted: to be forced out of a position of power/ out of a job

e.g., The government got finally ousted by the years of rebels.

pseudo: false or pretended   e.g., His claim that taking multi-vitamins is a useless habit is based on pseudoscience that cannot be legitimized by controlled experiments.