OUR BIG DIVERSE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY . . . AND THREE GOATS.

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by poet and teacher Margaret Simon Here. Thank you, Margaret for hosting. I look forward to what you will be sharing this week.

It’s been important for me to try to maintain optimism with the news the way it is. I’m trying to keep my sense of humor.

So I keep practicing drawing and painting. Can you tell these are goats? It’s rough, and drawing goats was challenging. 

GOATS IN SEVERAL TONES

Three in the barnyard
looking for something-perhaps
a new patch of grass.

© Janice Scully

What if we saw only goats as we walked through the woods? Can you imagine if there was no diversity allowed in the Animal kingdom? No lions or Gazelles? Spiders or snakes?

ALL THE SAME

With no diversity,
everything will be the same,
no strange languages or hairdos. 

With no diversity,
no one will surprise you with
Korean tofu soup or Kung Pao shrimp.
 
With no diversity
there will be no need to ask
"Where are you from?"

With no diversity, or fun,
the only music will be YMCA
performed on Saturdays in bars and ballrooms.

With no diversity, be careful
who you love
outside your door. 

Americans will be forever safe in America.
Everywhere, men wearing masks and 
driving unmarked cars, are ready to protect
you against foreigners and pedophiles--


©Janice Scully 2026

America of course is steeped in hundreds of cultures, to its benefit and longevity. There is no going back, only forward.

To end, below is a drawing and a strange very old poem I found in an old book by Robert Louis Stevenson I copied into my sketch book.

Thank you, Margaret for hosting!

14 thoughts on “OUR BIG DIVERSE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY . . . AND THREE GOATS.”

  1. Janice, so many good things in your post here! I love your diversity poem. I think this so often too. I especially like it when the diversity of people create community and do amazing things together. I have a t-shirt that reads, “You can’t love freedom and hate diversity.” Your three goats definitely look like goats! This winter they probably are searching for “a new patch of grass”.

  2. I 💙 your goats! Especially the one with horns. Your second poem, “All the Same” has a powerful bite! I know the Robert Louis Stevenson poem by heart, my mother recited it to me so many times. Fun bird and lovely post, thanks Janice!

  3. Thanks for sharing what you call rough sketches. I see goats! So cute! Your diversity poem is effective. I don’t quite understand the need to make the world look like us. That would be terrible. Diversity is what makes U S, us.

  5. Janice, your diversity poem is so powerful, with stanzas that are almost humorous until you realize the awfulness of a world without diversity. The stanza of “With no diversity, be careful/who you love/
    outside your door. ” is especially resonant with foreboding. Also love the haiku and your sketches! So much inspiration here! Thank you!

  6. Three cheers for your three goats and for the rich, delicious, interesting, delightful diversity in our country!

  8. Well said plainly and in poetry. Only forward with the richness of the land and people that have made America what it is.

  9. I love that Robert Louis Stevenson poem that I remember from childhood! Thanks for sharing it and your lovely poems and goats.

  10. Janice, Your sketches are lovely. Keep at it. The goats and the subsequent poem about only being goats in the environment make one think. Diversity is important from a biological perspective, as you know, and for society as well. Your second poem speaks to that. And, your last poem’s sketch looks like a Northern Flicker. Robert Louis Stevenson is a person of interest to me since our visit to Scotland. His family’s history is steeped in Lighthouse builders. Thanks for sharing your art and your words.

  12. Your goats/ bird art and poems are lovely. You remind me to sketch more. And here’s to diversity! You show how boring the world would be in a variety of ways.

  13. Janice, your sketches are lovely. The goats look realistic. I like your thought about America; it could be a mentor text for poetry writing in high school. “Of course is steeped in hundreds of cultures, to its benefit and longevity. There is no going back, only forward.”

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