Freedom Denied

Close my ears, shut my eyes,
No learning I succumb
Fail to hear Br'er Rabbit tales
A tar baby's lesson learned

I shall not hear the echoes
Of slavery in the south
Nary a word from Uncle Tom
Should ever slip from my mouth

No tale of Vanishing Prairies
Or Massacre at Wounded Knee
Injuns, trails, and peyote
Shall remain a mystery

Are the Grapes of Wrath
Too bitter on the tongue
Abolishment of knowledge
Claiming I'm too young

So Fanny Hill speaks
And deaf become the saints
Assign all banishments
Because of the complaints

No Flowers for Algernon
Figures a Catch 22
Learn to Kill a Mockingbird
And Heather's mommies too

No degree of Fahrenheit
Should ever warn my mind
Or Frankenstein on silver screens
Shall surely make me blind

Leaves of Grass shall not bend
There is no Age of Reason
Did six million really die?
Judge and Jury for treason

Tell the wind to quiet now
The bough to never break
Mine eyes have seen the glory
Of Banning in the States

Melinda Kay Carpenter
1/2/11