Proposed Questions for the Naturalization Test

Are you the color

of Congress, the Senate,

and the tacky walls of the Oval Office?

Do you speak the right language,

is it with the right accent? And if not

can we use your brain or your labor

to make our weapons?

Would you vote for the correct person?

Were your ancestors brought

or did they come?

Or have they been here all along?

Are you a Red, a commie

who’s more of a socialist,

a bleeding heart liberal willing to pay two bucks

more for a McDonald’s burger if it means

the person serving it can live too?

Did you have no choice about going into debt?

Are you sure? Aren’t you just lazy?

Do you love the right people?

Are you a fag, a dyke,

a twink, butch, bear, otter, femme,

queen, did you cry at the news of Pulse,

have your tears drowned you?

What’s your gender, and do you know

you only get two choices? What’s between your legs?

Have you feared; holding the hand of your other half

as they flounce beside you;

walking the street

when the street lamps are

tiny metropolitan suns hiding the stars;

the officer stopping you

for reasons you know are old

but still killing,

when did they stop calling it lynching?

What? Are you still here?