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    American Chess: Poems: 2014-2016: Red Fox Runs, #3
    American Chess: Poems: 2014-2016: Red Fox Runs, #3
    American Chess: Poems: 2014-2016: Red Fox Runs, #3
    Ebook101 pages33 minutes

    American Chess: Poems: 2014-2016: Red Fox Runs, #3

    By Joseph Adam Lee

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    About this ebook

    (98 Pages) "American Chess: Poems 2014-2016" examines a country’s vulnerabilities and the division of its people. The author reflects on the growing separation between social classes and fears “Americans are loosing their ability to dream.” Other poems discuss a struggle with finding new love and the anxiety of fleeting youth.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRed Fox Runs Press
    Release dateAug 14, 2017
    ISBN9781946673930
    American Chess: Poems: 2014-2016: Red Fox Runs, #3

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      Book preview

      American Chess - Joseph Adam Lee

      American Chess

      (Everyday Dishonest Heroes)

      The children will learn about it,

      ways they can maneuver,

      weave,

      and bob.

      They’ll play on empathy

      and use emotion to disguise their inability,

      their lives lived as decoys.

      In this game of life,

      they’ll capitalize on the loopholes,

      they’ll become masters of social deception,

      debunking diligence,

      discipline,

      and dedication,

      trained to dismiss

      anything that glistens with accountability,

      skilled in passive aggression -

      liable to nothing -

      with nothing made

      nothing moved

      nothing

      nothing at all.

      The teachers will teach them this

      because the teachers were once them.

      The subject matter covered up

      a dazzling display of subjective adaptability.

      Confused by the teachers,

      confused by the parents,

      they are taught to be confused

      by the ones they admire the most.

      We grow up into a society that

      bins us

      rewards us

      labels us.

      All too quickly, it finds a way to belittle us,

      leaving adults groomed to battle endlessly

      against one another.

      For, how quickly do we turn

      when we aren’t given

      the applause?

      That’s when the evil comes out.

      The growth of anything is subdued.

      The endless desire to be

      wanted and regarded,

      a misbelief that we need to be placed

      in a position of prestige,

      a foretelling of the loss of our potentials,

      that’s what we’ve learned.

      And so,

      Americans are bred to be withdrawn.

      They say mental health will save us all,

      but how can we believe the therapist who needs therapy

      or prescribes us the drugs to keep us -

      needing them

      paying them.

      The tax dollars of the hardest workers

      spent on those who

      act,

      who’ve had bad parenting,

      who know manipulation is better than any talent?

      They play the finest game.

      The country’s progress will be stunted by the game.

      Fear of omission will ignite its flames.

      Everyone will burn from the

      intolerable

      apprehensible

      insanity

      of the game.

      For those fighting for honor,

      lurking alone and creating,

      the dice will roll their roll,

      the numbers will lie,

      and they’ll never break the bank.

      When the child

      weeps

      begs

      gives us an honest

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