Let America sing,
let America sing her failures
and her glories
but sing.
Sing.
Sing to drown out hate,
to confess our broken past
Sing today
so we may sing
a better tomorrow.
But sing.
Sing about all of it.
And if you are crying
then cry out while singing
cry because the opposite
is not worth living:
mad men and clowns
and broken humanity
breaking each other.
So sing.
Sing a new song.
Singe a new vision.
Sing.
sing you mother-fuckers.
Sing loud.
Jason Derr is the United Campus Ministries campus minister in La Crosse, Wi. He studied creative writing at Eastern Washington University and has his MA in Theological Studies from the Vancouver School of Theology. His fiction has appeared in Relief, The Midnight Diner, Green Brier Review and Literary Orphans. He is the author of the audio play ‘Forever and Ever, Amen’ from Shoestring Radio Theater and ‘Little Houses’ from La Crosse Community Theater and ‘The Monks Tale’ from Howler Theaters production of the Canterbury Tales.