U.S. A.R.M.Y.

Yes, My Retarded Ass Signed Up
An ass backwards acronym 
Serve my country?
So tell me what happened then
Back when I was fieldhand
Slaving in the hot sun
From dusk 'til dawn 
Until I got the job done

Stole my family and shipped me off to foreign lands
Unknowing of when I would see Motherland again 
Then Abe declared the E.P.
So tell me
Have I really been free since 1863?
Supposedly

And I still ain't seen 40 acres
And a mule or no reparations
I get segregation, degradation 
And white's against integration 
Discrimination ain't new to me
I appreciate Mrs. Parks 
That's why I sit in the front bus seats

Jim Crow tried to hold me down
Black activists of the 60's 
Helped to make my silence turn sound
I'm spellbound
Sold my soul to the government 
I got the M.G.I. bill
Not here for the honor of it
Patriotism went out the door

If that's the case soldier 
​Then what the hell are you here for? 

I wrote this while I was in a training class at Basic Training in Fort Jackson, SC. One of my drill sergeants was reading over my shoulder as I was brainstorming about what could come after the line, "Patriotism went out the door." The drill sergeant laughed at me then said, "If that's the case soldier then what the hell are you here for?" What he said made sense and it rhymed, so I decided to keep it. 

A poem from "Just My Thoughts: Mind, Body & Soul" by J.D. Laws, July 2006.