Lines for America

Lines for America A Cento for July 4, 2025

Oh, let America be America again 1

This land is your land, and this land is my land 

The land that never has been yet—3

From California to the New York Island 

I celebrate democracy, and sing of its freedom, 5

From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters 

And what I defend you shall shield, 7

This land was made for you and me 

For every choice belonging to me as good belongs to you. 9

As I went walking that ribbon of highway 

There is no chance that we will fall apart 11

And I saw above me that endless skyway

There is no chance 13

I saw below me that golden valley

There are no parts. 15

This land was made for you and me

Our children need to be told they can achieve 17

I roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps

And that God bless those that hold on to their dreams 19

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts

We have to take down the signs so that our children won’t know 21

All around me a voice was a-sounding

That the Devil is trying to make dreams illegal… 23

This land was made for you and me

You should be angry. You must not be bitter. 25

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me

 Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn’t do anything to the object of its displeasure. 27

Sign was painted, said, "Private Property"

So use that anger. 29

But on the back side, it didn't say nothing

You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. 31

This land was made for you and me

You do everything about it. You talk it. Never stop talking it. 33

When the sun comes shining, then I was strolling

She meant  35

                      Until my children 36

And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling

& my children’s children 38

A voice come chanting as the fog was lifting

  & my children’s children 40

                      & they babies too 41

This land was made for you and me

Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood 43

This land is your land, and this land is my land

But a poem is a living thing 45

From California to the New York Island

it is all that can stand 47

From Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters

   in this blessed land 49

This land was made for you and me
We are still America 51

Arranged by Linda Mitchell

Source of lines:

1 and 3. Langston Hughes 'Let America be America Again'
2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24,26,28,30,32,34,37,39,42,44,46,48,50. Woodie Guthrie, 'This Land is Your Land'

5, 7 and 9. Walt Whitman 'Song of Myself'

11, 13 and 15. June Jordan 'Poem Number Two on Bell's Theorem, or The New Physicality of Long Distance Love'

17, 19, 21, and 23. Meja Brooks 'Our Work, Our Words...Poems on the pavement']

25, 27, 29, 31, and 33 Maya Angelou 
35, 36,38,40 and 41. Mahogany Browne 'When Fannie Lou Hammer Said'
43. Claude McKay 'America'

45 and 47. Elizabeth Alexander 'Ars Poetia #1,002: Rally'
49 Hahogany Browne 'When Fannie Lou Hammer Said'
51 Joy Harjo 'An American Sunrise'

July's Inkling Challenge came from Mary Lee Hahn. See how other Inklings answered her call to write poems of protest at these blogs. 

Mary Lee Hahn @ A(nother) Year of Reading who is graciously hosting PF this week!

Catherine Flynn @ Reading to the Core

Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone

Margaret Simon @ Reflections on the Teche
Heidi Mordhorst @ my juicy little universe

Linda Mitchell @ A Word Edgewise