Jayna Marks is teenaged writer in Southern New Mexico. We are thrilled to be the first journal to publish her work.

I built america 

 These hands
 Passed down for generations
 Built america
 These feet
 Walk the roads my ancestors built
 These legs
 Run from what i call life
 And what some would call hell

 But i built america

 The land your forefathers
 Claimed to be theirs
 Killed to be theirs
 Slaughtered to be theirs
 When their feet didn't feel this soil
 Until millions
 And millions of my people
 Had fertilized this land

 But i built america

 I built the white house you call home
 I built the floor you walk on
 I built the bed you sleep on
 I built the place you raise your children

 I am the reason you live the american dream
 I am the one who built america
 I made the shoes you walk in
 But you could never walk in my shoes
 I built america
 But america breaks me every day

 We built america