The States

It is easy to be an entire country 
when you do not have to take responsibility 
for what it stands for.

I can't explain our obsession with football–
a sport we created and coincidentally are champions at–
anymore than I can explain 
why we find organic joy in butchering people's names with gusto
and pride.

I have never had to be an American until now
I never had to carry the history in an introduction 
or a beverage ( Shirley Temple). 
I never had to make excuses for decisions I didn't choose to make

Do all countries have to go through this? 
Do all nationalities have that legislation to carry, that story 
or is it just America. 
Americans that have to shrug off the questions and gestures that ask
Why the fuck are you the way you are? 

What answer would be most appropriate? 
I am not the one who made America,
I just hold the foundations of its forgotten beginnings.