Mirage

I remember being a child

And walking around

The residential area

Of my small town

Immediately I thought

I don’t belong here

But even more

I never want to be here

This is not my American Dream

I grew older

And now

As I look around

All I see

Are people living

The American Nightmare

Whether that means

            Bars on your windows

Or a tendency

Towards

Anomic suicide

Someone lied

When they told us

That this was a fantasy

Come true

The American Dream

Is brain dead

It has gone so long

Without new life

That it is beyond resuscitation

We need not ask ourselves

Why?

What we should ask

Is this

Did it ever really exist?