[ Carolina poet Dan Albergotti places “American
Exceptionalism” in a disturbing historical context. ]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA  
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Dan Albergotti
September 1, 2021
Laurel Review

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_ Carolina poet Dan Albergotti places “American Exceptionalism”
in a disturbing historical context. _

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THE RISE AND FALL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

By Dan Albergotti

When these days I hear some folks speak of pride,

“American Exceptionalism,”

and how they don’t need to apologize

for any damn thing, I think of the shark.

Specifically, the Greenland shark swimming

in the North Atlantic right now—somewhere

between Plymouth, England, and Plymouth Rock—

that has lived for nearly three hundred years.

I think of it swimming as it has swum

through the drafting of high ideals and through

the mockery of same with chains and whips

and ropes and trees and dogs and grand juries.

It has swum through the Gettysburg Address

and through Burr’s pistol shot, Booth’s lead bullet,

Kennedy’s strewn gray matter, and the flash

that wiped out tens of thousands in Japan.

It has swum through Columbine and Newtown,

through El Paso and Pittsburgh and Vegas,

through Ferguson and Charlottesville and flames,

and through zombie crowds chanting “U-S-A!”

Researchers gauge the age of Greenland sharks

by carbon dating cornea. Their eyes

are tiny, parasites dangling from most.

The poor old things are slow and quite, quite blind.

Dan Albergotti is the author of _The Boatloads_ (BOA Editions, 2008),
_Millennial Teeth _(Southern Illinois University Press, 2014), and _Of
Air and Earth_ (Unicorn Press, 2019). His poems have appeared in _32
Poems,_ _The Cincinnati Review, Copper Nickel, Five Points, The
Southern Review, The Best American Poetry, _and _The_ _Pushcart Prize,
_as well as other journals and anthologies. He is a professor of
English at Coastal Carolina University.

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