The Statue of Liberty

(dedicated to Matt Hall of The Port Orford News)


WHAT "THE STATUE OF LIBERTY" MEANS TO ME:

Iced mochas and swim-suit magazines
schools full of energetic green-mohawked teens
John Lennon flashing a peace sign
Germans listening to French techno on the Rhine,
controversial poets and artists
being allowed to shine

German fashionistas making waves in France,
Saudis, Syrians and Iranians at American universities
discussing Shakespeare and Pushkin
teaching their culture to yankees
learning to dance

Netherlanders peacably drinking mushroom tea,
entrepreneurs creating jets
delicacies and green technology,
worthy Sacagawea and MLK on yankee currency




That famous torch we saw from the ferry
the winding stairs I climbed as a kid
long before politics, lovers, or cares

Made of Norwegian steel
and bestowed by an emperor
she nonetheless stands tall in our imaginations:
a symbol of a dream
(for which noble men and women
have tried, cried, and died)

that from Sweden to Zaire
from Thailand to Cuba to Iran
there may someday be liberty and peace:
"a brotherhood of man"