Patriotic Poetry to Help Get Through Every Day in America

Through poetry, John Brehm illuminates American history and global identity. The poet spoke to PBS NewsHour's Mary Jo Brooks about his relationship to fireworks and all things patriotic.

Poet John Brehm was living in New York in the summer of 2003 when he attended a Fourth of July celebration in Prospect Park. “I looked up and saw military jets flying overhead and I just had this ominous feeling,” said Brehm.

The city was still reverberating from the 9/11 attacks and so was Brehm, who had witnessed the towers coming down. “I just couldn’t help thinking about the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts and this quagmire that it felt like we were entering.”

“I don’t feel patriotic in the conventional sense. But I love what this country stands for. I wish with all my heart that we lived up to those ideals more consistently.”

He was also thinking about a young soldier he had seen interviewed on PBS, who described the day he was wounded. “I was struck by the very matter-of-fact way he talked about his horrific injuries.”

Brehm began writing a poem, which became “Fourth of July.” It retells the soldier’s story about trying to brush burning embers off his chest, only to discover he was missing his right arm. “It felt symbolic. This wasn’t just a story about one soldier but the larger human condition, the American condition.”

Continue reading and hear Behm read "Fourth of July" at PBS NewsHour.