America (gutsy title...)

"The Bridges of America"
I feel like I've heard this before.
Or else have thought of it on this train
to New Haven.
The Great Bridge of America
is Mexico and the following countires:
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras,
Guatemala, El Salvador
Belize, Panama. Like a strangely-
shaped banana bridge.
Everyone seems to be saying America:
at the museums or the streets
of New York, in the privacy
of the houses in the Pioneer Valley.
We passed Yonkers, now the Bronx.
My grandmother came into
the Bronx. Learned English from
the radio & night classes.
I am budgeting for my next visit
to Washington, DC.
On the train, we pass bridges
only from the side, never go on one.
We pass lakes and ponds
with cranes, tall and fishing.
Unless we did cross one, and
I never paid attention.