A New National Anthem

BY ADA LIMÓN

The truth is, I’ve never cared for the National

Anthem. If you think about it, it’s not a good

song. Too high for most of us with “the rockets

    By saying it's "too high", Limón is commenting on the composition of the actual         song rather than the content or meaning behind it.

red glare” and then there are the bombs.

(Always, always, there is war and bombs.)

    However she then follows that by going into the multiple negative connotations         behind the song, beginning with bombs, which she comments on the                     prevalence of violence and normalization of it in regard to this country. 

Once, I sang it at homecoming and threw

even the tenacious high school band off key.

    To break up the "darker" commentary, Limón throws in a personal anecdote to             lighten the mood just a bit to then connect to later points.

But the song didn’t mean anything, just a call

to the field, something to get through before

the pummeling of youth. And what of the stanzas

    She then again connects to the first lines of the poem, showing how many people         overlook the meaning of the National Anthem, and simply just sing it because         it's tradition.

we never sing, the third that mentions “no refuge

could save the hireling and the slave”? Perhaps,

    Here, Limón begins her opinion against the National Anthem, and begins to pull         information that is commonly brushed over by most of the nation.

the truth is, every song of this country

has an unsung third stanza, something brutal

    The connection to poetry within poetry is really significant to me, and it almost         helps the concept come across easier because it's relating to a medium that is         already known. 

snaking underneath us as we blindly sing

the high notes with a beer sloshing in the stands

hoping our team wins. Don’t get me wrong, I do

    These lines were very noteworthy to me because it connects back to the previously     used anecdote of when the National Anthem is sung. Those singing it with            "beers in hand" are so blissfully ignorant to the true meaning behind the song         they're singing with cheer and celebration.

like the flag, how it undulates in the wind

like water, elemental, and best when it’s humbled,

brought to its knees, clung to by someone who

has lost everything, when it’s not a weapon,

    Limón describes the beauty of the flag, and how it's physically beautiful, but what     it represents is not necessarily beautiful as well. 

when it flickers, when it folds up so perfectly

you can keep it until it’s needed, until you can

love it again, until the song in your mouth feels

like sustenance, a song where the notes are sung

     Following the last section of lines, the flag is beautiful when it's used not as a             representation of the country's negativity, but when it represents the positives         and freedoms of the country. 

by even the ageless woods, the short-grass plains,

the Red River Gorge, the fistful of land left

unpoisoned, that song that’s our birthright,

    Going back to the country's roots before it was "tampered with", the flag to Limón     represents the beauty of the life and society that was around before large                corporations and capitalism took over. She views the country and society we        live in now to have "poisoned" the beautiful natural world that this country built     itself on top of.

that’s sung in silence when it’s too hard to go on,

that sounds like someone’s rough fingers weaving

into another’s, that sounds like a match being lit

in an endless cave, the song that says my bones

are your bones, and your bones are my bones,

and isn’t that enough?

    Limón begins the poem in a very literal way, relating the National Anthem to             personal anecdotes that many can relate to, and then ends the poem here in a         very abstract way, but still related everything back to the collective nature of         humanity. At the end of the day, everyone is the same built with the same             bones, and that should be enough to rejoice and celebrate rather than a song         that represents a time in the nation that many choose to "forget".

I chose this poet specifically because I love how all of her pieces comment/criticize society, as well as gender, race, and mental health. This poem specifically appeals to me because of how it's politically driven but yet doesn't include much explicit opinion, just facts based from observation. I agree with everything written about in this poem that society tends to try and overlook the negative parts of history, when in reality they need to be discussed so we can learn from the past and see growth and progress. The history of certain groups of people should not be looked over simply because it is "embarrassing" for the nation. #teachlivingpoets