This is what I saw.

I saw “M”, 65 years old, leave his 3 generation home,
because home costs too much.
I saw young Army soldiers.
I saw headlines:
“US Senator: military families should leave South Korea as threat of war grows”.
I saw a Mexican father of 3 working at 1:30 am.
I saw “M” complain about “lazy Mexicans”.
I saw red.
I saw a blowout argument about racism,
that was all about resentment,
and not about fact.
I saw arid land without value.
I saw fences built to deny shelter to the homeless.
I saw yachts bulge at the Intercoastal’s seams.
I saw a Texas cowboy buy gas and gum.
His holster was hand-tooled leather;
his gun was loaded and hammer cocked.
I saw a Houston sky ablaze with police cars,
where people hid during a mall shooting.
I saw a gas station cordoned off,
and armed police who tiptoed,
guns held ready in both hands.
I saw another gas station;
the clerk was once robbed at gunpoint.
I saw sweeping vistas and majestic mesas.
“Keep your hands off our public lands,”
read the sign I saw at the Women’s March.
I saw the Superdome in NOLA,
where people were left to die.
I smelled Big Easy beignets and refineries.
I saw the Mississippi where, upstream,
the pipeline leaked 200,000 gallons of oil,
an hour northeast of my birthplace,
where Native Americans were teargassed,
protecting water, the elixir of life.
I saw a state where a pedophile is running for Governor.
I saw a state where a president endorsed a pedophile for Governor.
I smelled humid rot,
and saw ads for Flood Insurance after “yours was denied.”
I saw a tax bill rushed through,
to give the rich more of what they want,
and the poor less of what they need.

I saw my heart soar with affection,
for the sweet melody of El Paso.
I saw my heart sink to think:
they fought to possess a woman
when women cannot be possessed.
And El Paso’s hero saw:
“…the white puff of smoke from the rifle,”
and felt “the bullet go deep in my chest.”

I saw my heart soar with affection,
for our wild lands,
our eccentricities,
our sea to shining sea.
And I hoped against hope,
that it might be made right again.

I saw headlines:
“Gorilla escapes barrier into hog exhibit at Houston Zoo…”