- My name is Bridget Meeds.

I'm a poet from Ithaca, New York, and my poem is called, "America, I saw You."

"America, I saw you leaping from the burning skyscraper, believing in your urgency that you would survive.

America, I saw you on the off ramp smiling with meth brown teeth holding a sign that said 'Homeless and pregnant.

Please help.'

America, I saw you huddled in the belly of a Chinook ear-butted and solitary.

America, I saw you up at 4:00 AM ironing your blouse for work.

America, I saw you punching a stop sign screaming in Chinese.

America, I saw you looking straight with 17 pounds of pot hidden in your spare tire.

America, I saw you texting while driving.

America, I saw you bite your father in a fury.

America, I saw you put on 10 pounds.

America, I saw you walk the winning run.

America, I saw you asking for an epidural.

America, I saw you raise your hand to strike your child.

America, I saw you drinking a kamikaze by the hotel pool.

America, I saw you eating roadkill woodchuck.

America, I saw you at the Super Great Wall Buffet with blue swastikas tattooed on your neck and knuckles.

America, I saw you in your '87 Oldsmobile wearing your best wig and sunglasses.

God, radio blaring.

America, I saw you in your private helicopter above Manhattan doing mental arithmetic.

America, I saw you walking a dog wearing a Hello Kitty T-shirt.

America, I saw you waving a white linen napkin from a broken window in the burning skyscraper.

America, I saw you fall.

(gentle music)