Poem contrasting American life vignettesfrom @brittonrae

Transcript

Eleven minutes in America. Welcome to the home of the brave. There's a homeless man in Central Park sleeping for eleven minutes today before the park rangers come and ask him to move along. They'll thank him for his service though, eleven months in Vietnam. Eleven minutes in America, we find ourselves deep in Louisiana. A widowed woman hides her tears as she has for eleven years. While her three children play in their one bedroom apartment, her late husband's medical bills have been sent to collections. The cancer took him swiftly. It was like a rogue wave, and she's been treading water ever since, slowly drowning day by day. Eleven minutes in America in a kindergarten class, silence fills the halls besides the shattering of glass as the children hide behind their yes using their backpacks as bulletproof vests. The teacher tells them to be brave as she clasped her hands to pray and shots ring out, sirens roar, and for eleven minutes, an eternity of hellish trauma is born. Eleven minutes in America, six wealthy women dressed in blue climb aboard a rocket ship and claim victory as an all female crew to experience weightlessness at the threshold of space before returning to a world full of endless unnecessary weight. Tens of millions of dollars, no problem solved. Eleven minutes in America is a truly free for all.