ee cummings 1926, "next to of course god america i"

"next to of course god america i
love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oh
say can you see by the dawn's early my
country 'tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry
in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-
iful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?"

He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water

Poem by ee cummings (It was published in 1926.)

Made In America - Toby Keith

Made In America Lyrics

my old man's that old man,
spent his life livin' off the land,
dirty hands, and a clean soul.
breaks his heart seein' foreign cars,
filled with fuel that isn't ours
and wearin' cotton he didn't grow

he's got the red, white, and blue flyin' high on the farm
semper fi tattooed on his left arm
spends a little more at the store for a tag in the back that says u.s.a.
won't buy nothin' that he can't fix,
with wd40 and a craftsman wrench
he ain't prejudice he's just, made in america

his wife, she's that wife that decorates on the 4th of july
but says "every day's independence day"
she's golden rule, teaches school,
some folks say it isn't cool but she says the pledge of allegiance anyway.

got the red, white, and blue flyin' high on the farm
semper fi tattooed on his left arm
spends a little more at the store for a tag in the back that says u.s.a.
won't buy nothin' that he can't fix,
with wd40 and a craftsman wrench
he ain't prejudice he's just, made in america

born in the heartland, raised up a family
of king james and uncle sam

got the red, white, and blue flyin' high on the farm
semper fi tattooed on his left arm
spends a little more at the store for a tag in the back that says u.s.a.
won't buy nothin' that he can't fix,
with wd40 and a craftsman wrench
he ain't prejudice he's just, made in america

made in america
made in america

my old man's that old man,
he's made in america

america!

"Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins

Introduction to Poetry

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

"so much depends" by William Carlos Williams

---

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

"This is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams

This Is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

"next to of course god america i" by ee cummings

e. e. cummings

"next to of course god america i
love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oh
say can you see by the dawn's early my
country 'tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry
in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-
iful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?"

He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water